The Statue
by KaytStarr
Summary: "And what would you know about love? Except that you will never feel it, from anyone." A back story for Darken Rahl it shows why he is driven to do the things he does and how one woman changes everything in his life. A prequel to the TV show
1. Chapter 1

Please be paitent with this story.

The Prologue may not make much sense at first, but by the end of the story it will. Also, the build up is quite slow as I felt that it would take a while for Darken Rahl to develope a close relationship with anyone.

Disclaimer: I do not own LOTS or it's characters, however, the story is my own idea.

Prologue

Richard, Kahlan & Zedd emerged from the woods, before them, about a mile ahead, lay Martello Castle. They were on their way to the nearby town of Three Rivers, but Kahlan wanted to stop here first. This is where the confessor had located the Book of Counted Shadows before delivering it to the seeker. The castle had an extensive library and at the time of obtaining the book, they had not had time to search further. She thought there may be other books that could be of use to Richard and Zedd.

As they approached, it was very quiet, there appeared to be no one about, the drawbridge was down and the gates were open. Upon entering the main courtyard, they found the place deserted, doors were left open, barrels and equipment were scattered around. A great heavy oak dresser lay on its side, Richard looked up and saw a gaping hole where a window had been, he thought it looked like a giant had thrown the dresser through the window.

Zedd was the first to speak, "Kahlan, what in the world happened here?"

Kahlan looked stunned, "I don't understand, the last time I was here there were people living here, a whole garrison of soldiers."

Richard was still studying the dresser "Well, whatever happened her, it was some time ago, look how the moss is growing over the wood of this dresser."

"Do you think they decided to leave after Darken Rahl was defeated?"

"No, it's more than that, people left in a hurry." Richard tipped out a bag of rotted food. "People don't leave food & weapons behind unless they have to."

Kahlan looked hopeful "If they left food behind, they may not have had time to empty the library."

Zedd spoke in his usual gruff manor "We need to be careful, we don't know what the cause of this was."

Richard & Kahlan drew their weapons and cautiously entered the main building. They walked into the great hall and stared open mouthed, the room was wrecked, furniture destroyed, tapestries shredded and great burn marks seared across the walls.

Kahlan looked at the other two as if she needed to explain "It wasn't like this, the place was alive and vibrant with people."

Zedd pointed at the walls, "these scorch marks were not cause by ordinary fire; this is magical fire"

"Then what were they fighting?" asked Richard

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was dangerous; I think we ought to find the library as soon as possible."

They moved from room to room, everything was the same, torn tapestries, broken pottery and furniture and the scorch marks on the walls. As they searched Richard asked, "Kahlan, why was the Book of Counted Shadows here in the first place, wouldn't Darken Rahl have had it sent to him at the peoples palace? "

"I don't think he knew. The book had been hidden for many years in a library in the Midlands. Unfortunately there was a fire at the library, most of the books were saved, but several people lost their lives. The head librarian was severely injured and during the time it took for him to heal, the books were moved around and stored in various temporary locations. When he recovered, he spent several months tracking the journeys of the books, he eventually came and told us of the loss when he found out that some the books had been transferred to this castle, he believed this included the Book Of Counted Shadows. Denne and I had to break in to retrieve the book before anyone realised it was here."

Zedd was still looking very concerned, "Kahlan, can you remember at all where the library was?"

Kahlen looked confused "No, Dennee and I had people to guide us, I thought when we returned, that someone would be able to help us."

Richard looked around "I think we should split up, we can cover more ground that way and meet up again in the main courtyard in an hour."

"Well be careful, whatever caused this, may still be here." Zedd chose a corridor and walked down it……

After a while, Zedd found himself exploring a series of courtyards that led from one to another. Signs of the same hurried exodus were everywhere, baskets left rotting in the sun; one area still had sheets hanging on the lines, now dirty and tattered from their enforced exposure to the elements. He walked through a gateway and thought for a moment that he had been transported.

The contrast was stunning, before him lay the most beautiful gardens he had ever seen, this area was loved and cared for and Zedd wondered how truly marvellous the rest of the castle would have looked before the destruction. Trees & mature shrubs obscured any view of the castle and the air was heavy with the scent of flowers. In the middle of the garden stood a young woman, as he approached, he realised she was a statue, so finely carved and painted, that for a moment he had thought it was a real person. Zedd was transfixed by her face and a feeling of love and peace filled his soul as he looked at her.

"Beautiful, isn't she."

Zedd started and saw a man standing beside him; he wore an old apron and held a trowel in his hand.

"Who is she?" Zedd asked, not wanting to take his eyes off the statue.

"She was the most important woman who ever lived in D'Hara, yet if you had asked her; she would have said she was only a servant. Would you like to hear her story?"

"Please" said Zedd, he sat on a nearby stone bench and continued to stare at the statue while the gardener told his story.

"Once upon a time, there lived a great and powerful ruler of D'Hara……………


	2. Chapter 2

Darken Rahl and his men emerged from the woods, before them about a mile ahead lay Martello Castle. He hadn't been here for several years; there was a garrison of soldiers billeted here along with a small number of household staff. The castle was old; it had been built before the Peoples Palace and used to be the main gathering place for meetings with dignitaries and holding social events. Darken Rahl rarely involved himself in 'social events' and now it was used as a training garrison. The castle also housed a large library, most of the more important non magical books were stored here, primarily historical books and records and archived military records, a sort of overflow library for the People's Palace.

Recently he had been hearing rumours about this place, it had officially come to his attention when he noticed a bundle of requests that General Egremont had tried to hide them from him but Darken Rahl insist on reading them. The letters were extraordinary they were from captains and commanders all over the region either requesting that certain soldiers were transferred there, or pleading for trained recruits from Martello castle to be assigned to them. He asked Egremont what was so special about this place, on paper it was an ordinary garrison with ordinary soldiers, but his men thought differently. General Egremont informed him that the garrison had a special knack of straightening out difficult cases, soldiers with discipline problems were sent there and came back changed men, most didn't want to leave, but if they did, they would often have their choice of assignment, others heard about the place and requested reassignment, it was an unusual phenomena. General Egremont had not investigated any further as far as he was concerned it worked, why upset the status quo. Darken Rahl however, wouldn't leave it, the situation puzzled him, he wanted to know if it could work here then why not in other places.

So, the journey was decided, he chose not to announce his visit as he wanted to catch them off their guard. The castle was a days ride away, they set off early in the morning and by late afternoon Darken Rahl approached the castle along with General Egremont and a dozen soldiers. The drawbridge was down but, the main doors were shut and the portcullis was lowered. They waited on the bridge, but no one appeared, General E called out, still no one appeared. Darken Rahl looked at General Egremont who then dismounted and walked to the door, he banged on the door, a small hatch in the door opened and a face appeared.

"State your business."

General Egremont spoke "We wish to see Captain Falcone and seek entrance."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, b…." the hatch shut in his face. General Egremont looked at Lord Rahl and knocked again and spoke to a closed door. "We have no appointment, but I am General Egremont and I have Lord Rahl with me, so let us in."

The hatch opened again and the face reappeared. "Do you have papers?"

"We need no papers, now let us in."

Unperturbed, the soldier continued. "What is the password?"

Darken Rahl grew impatient; he dismounted and marched towards the door. "I have no papers and I need no password, I am Lord Rahl, you will let me in now, or suffer the consequences!" He heard a noise behind him and saw a dozen archers, their bows drawn and then from above on the battlements, more archers appeared. Darken Rahl considered his situation, he gave a small smile, he was standing on a drawbridge, unable to get into his own castle and surrounded by archers. He could cast some magic to disarm them, but he knew he would be dead before he could raise his arms. He didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed.

Another face appeared at the hatch, it was Captain Falcone, the doors opened, but the portcullis remained down.

"Forgive me Lord Rahl, but we have had impostors from time to time and need to make sure." The captain didn't move. (What the hell was he waiting for now?) Darken Rahl thought. Another soldier ran up to Captain Falcone, Darken Rahl caught the words "not confessed". The captain gave the order to stand down and the portcullis was raised and the archers disarmed. As Darken Rahl walked into the courtyard, he saw stable boys take the horses; servants and soldiers were running to various duties. Within minutes most of the soldiers were standing to attention in the courtyard.

The captain spoke "Would you care to inspect the men sir? They would consider it a great honour."

"Very well." It had been a long journey and he wanted to rest, but after his reception, he was curious to see these men. Darken Rahl noted every detail and was impressed, all the men were in clean smart uniforms, he noted tears and holes were expertly sewn, weapons were clean and bright, every man stood tall and proud. Darken Rahl thought that if the rest of his visit went well, he may have some of these men transferred to his Dragon Core.

When he went inside, hot food and drink were waiting for him, the housekeeper said a bath would be ready if he required one and there was even a vase of freshly cut roses on the table. Darken Rahl looked at the flowers and smiled, "so Egremont, when did you tell them I was arriving?"

"I swear my Lord, they received no notice of your visit"

Darken Rahl looked into General Egremont face, he was telling the truth, maybe there was something to this place after all.

After his meal he spoke with Captain Falcone. He found the usual training procedures in place, but in addition when the men first arrived, they were questioned in detail about their likes and dislikes, hobbies, skills, previous work experience before and after enlisting.

"Why so detailed?" he asked.

"It ensures that the men are assigned in the best possible way. From this garrison, as well as the finest soldiers, we have also produced the finest cooks, horsemen, quartermasters, carpenters, everything that is needed to support your army. The men's talents are not wasted and your army gets the best men in the right places."

Captain Falcone went on to give examples of the garrison rules and regulations. He explained that the men were not discouraged from drinking, but any offence while on duty was severely punished, they were also under strict instructions not to cause any disturbance to the local population. The Captain was quite proud of the good relationship that the garrison had with the local town of Three Rivers. Darken Rahl, General Egremont and the Captain continued to talk about the garrison, discussing in detail the merits of each idea and method used, yet there was still no defining reason for why this place was so different. At 9.00 o'clock the captain begged his leave as he still had duties to perform and they agreed to discuss more in the morning when Darken Rahl would go over the garrison records. As he was about to leave Captain Falcone looked Darken Rahl straight in the eyes and said.

"My Lord, if you require a woman for the evening, I can get you a whore from the local town, please do not touch the women in the castle." The captain gaze was straight and determined as he continued. "The men have been taught to treat these women as their wives, daughters, mothers and sisters, you would be setting a bad example to the men and destroy moral if they are treated otherwise."

Darken Rahl stood up and gazed into the man's face, his look would often break a man, but the captain remained resolute. Anger swelled up inside him, but he spoke calmly and softly, "not tonight Captain."

The captain nodded and left the room, inwardly Darken Rahl raged at being told which woman he could or couldn't have but, he was tired and had not wanted a woman anyway, so he had let it go. However, tomorrow he would have a good look around and see which one took his fancy; he wondered if the captain had a wife……………


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Darken Rahl was still in bed when he heard a gentle knock at the door. He laid there pretending to be asleep as a woman entered the room, placed a tray at his bedside then proceeded to tend to the fire. He thought about the captains words the night before. Captain Falcone hadn't challenged him in front of the men, which was in his favour, yet he hadn't backed down either. Darken Rahl wondered how far he could push the captain. He thought it might be fun to drag this woman into his bed and ravish her, then see how Captain Falcone would react when she ran to him in tears with a torn dress and ruined reputation. He just hoped she wouldn't be too ugly.

His thoughts were interrupted when he became aware of someone sitting on the bed beside him. He opened his eyes and stared into the deepest green eyes he had ever seen. The young woman sitting on his bed was about twenty five years old; she had pale skin and was plainly dressed with her hair covered, as was the style of the female servants in this castle. However, this was no simpering servant, begging not to be raped; this one had a knife to his throat. No, wait, not to his throat, she was twirling the knife around a lock of his hair. She didn't look at him and spoke quietly as if to herself.

"They say that if a woman uses a magical knife to cut off a lock of a man's hair while he is sleeping and places it in a magical locket, she will have his heart forever."

Darken Rahl looked at her, he could easily have taken the knife from her and plunge it into her heart but, her confidence and audacity intrigued him.

"Is that what you plan to do to me?"

She looked at him and gave a mischievous smile "I haven't found the locket yet." She got off the bed. "You really ought to be more careful with your magical knives Lord Rahl. I found one of the servants trying to pry open a tin with this." She placed the knife on his breakfast tray and left the room.

Darken Rahl was stunned, that was not how he expected the encounter to go. He got out of bed and examined the knife. It was actually a dagger, the blade was about seven inches long, there were no marking or runes on it and although it was a finely crafted weapon, it gave no outward appearance of being magical. He made a mental note to show the dagger to his wizard Geller and see if he could determine more about it.

He dressed and as he ate his breakfast, he heard the sounds of people moving around as the castle came to life. He had been here less than twenty four hours and this was the second time the inhabitants of this castle had caught him off guard.

* * *

That morning Darken Rahl and General Egremont met with Captain Falcone and his Lieutenant. He sat in the captain's office and had the garrison records brought to him. Darken Rahl wanted to understand more about how this particular garrison was run. Lieutenant Gray presented the record book which showed the offences committed by the soldiers and their corresponding punishments. There were surprisingly few entries in the book, he had expected more.

"There are not many entries in this book lieutenant?"

The lieutenant stood to attention and stared straight ahead. "No my Lord, the men are very well behave my Lord."

"What is the usual punishment for the men?"

"Depends on the offence my Lord, the standard is either a flogging or solitary confinement"

Darken Rahl thought about last night's conversation with the captain. "Have there been any incidences of rape lieutenant?"

"Not for some time my Lord."

"What happened to the last man that committed such an offence?"

"He died my Lord."

Darken Rahl looked at the captain, who's face showed no emotion. "Died?"

The captain spoke. "I think you misunderstood the question Lieutenant, Lord Rahl wishes to know what the man's punishment was."

"Sorry my Lord. The man received the standard punishment of a flogging and thirty days solitary confinement."

"Then how did he die?"

"Oh, a terrible accident my Lord."

"Accident?" The man was not being disrespectful, but getting the information out of him was like pulling teeth. He took a breath. "What, accident?"

"He accidentally ate some ground glass while in solitary confinement my Lord."

Darken Rahl stared into the Lieutenants face, the lieutenant stared straight ahead. He spoke very quietly and deliberately. "How can someone accidentally eat ground glass?"

"Never did find out my Lord, we had an investigation and everything, it's all in the report. We interrogated everyone who knew him; no one had a grudge against him. He had taken his punishment like a man and was respected for that. Even the young woman he ravished forgave him, she took him a cake while he was in prison, to show no hard feelings of course."

"Of course." Said Darken Rahl as he studied the lieutenant.

The lieutenant continued. "Normally solitary confinement means just that, but as it was his last day, the guards said she could talk to him. They watched as she handed the cake over and gave a little speech about how she forgave him and hoped in time they could become friends. From what we could ascertain, he fell ill later that evening. It was a terrible state of affairs my Lord, the poor chap took two days to die, absolute agony. It's all in the report if you want to read it my Lord."

Darken Rahl looked at the lieutenant and the captain; they both had the same non committal looks on their faces. He looked at General Egremont who just coughed and looked as unbelieving as Darken Rahl felt.

"What happened to the woman?" he was thinking of his encounter that morning.

"Married one of the guards and they now have three children. I believe they are living somewhere in the north of D'Hara. Begging your pardon my Lord, but I would just like to say it was nice to see something good come from such an unfortunate occurrence. Would you like to see any other records my Lord?"

Darken Rahl, started to wonder what would have been in his supper that night if things had gone differently this morning. He decided not to pursue things for the moment and changed the subject. "Let me see your store records."

"Yes my Lord," the lieutenant motioned for the quarter master to bring in his records.

"I suppose you have the usual amount of thievery."

"Not for some time my Lord"

As the quarter master entered the room he noticed that the man only had one hand. Darken Rahl rubbed the side of his head, he could feel a headache coming on, it was going to be one of those days…………


	4. Chapter 4

Later that evening, Darken Rahl and General Egremont had finished supper and were sitting by the fire. They had eaten in silence, neither knowing what to say.

Eventually General Egremont spoke. "Captain Falcone has rather unusual methods."

"Do you believe any of it Egremont?"

"Not a word, my Lord."

They had viewed the records and interviewed various soldiers. On paper everything was in order. Every incident was well documented, although the more curious and bizarre accidents that happened at the castle seemed to happen to people who had committed some misdemeanour. The horse thief, who was accidentally locked in one of the stables and then trampled to death by a horse. The guard who fell asleep on duty and curiously slept walked off the battlements & drowned in the moat below. Darken Rahl couldn't decide whether the stories were made up to scare the new recruits or had actually happened and were bound up in investigations and reports to legitimise them.

"How do you propose to punish Falcone?" asked Egremont.

"Punish him? For what? Training the best men in my army, soldiers that don't fall asleep or drink on duty, that are taught to respect D'Haran women and don't steal my property."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I need to think about this. Tell the men we are returning to the Peoples Palace first thing in the morning."

"Yes my Lord." General Egremont started to leave.

"Egremont, there's a woman here, she….she has…" he paused; he didn't know what to say. He wanted to say, 'she has the most beautiful green eyes and I can't stop thinking about her'. He wanted to find her, but unless he got Egremont to line up all the servants so that he could inspect them…. That would be ridiculous; it would feel like he was examining a horse.

"My Lord?" Egremont was still waiting.

"Never mind, I'll see you in the morning, goodnight Egremont."

"Goodnight my Lord."

He examined the dagger she had given him that morning, what did she want? She didn't want to kill him; she had gotten his attention but then disappeared for the rest of the day. It looked like he would just have to wait until she brought him his breakfast to find out.

* * *

The next morning Darken Rahl was still in bed when he heard a gentle knock at the door. He laid there pretending to be asleep as someone entered the room and placed a tray at his bedside. He sat up and grabbed their arm, it was a man servant.

"Where is she?"

"Where is who my Lord?"

"The woman who brought me my breakfast yesterday."

"Most of the women are doing the washing today, She is probably in one of the inner courtyards this morning my Lord." The servant had a pained expression on his face and Darken Rahl realised he was still holding the man's arm. He let go and the man hurriedly tended the fire and left the room.

He felt bitterly disappointed that she hadn't visited him that morning and then chided himself for being so weak and pathetic, he was Lord Rahl and could have any woman he wanted, this one meant nothing to him. He shook all memories of her from his mind, dressed, ate breakfast and prepared to leave.

In the main courtyard General Egremont and Captain Falcone were waiting for him, the men were all prepare and ready to leave.

"It has been an interesting visit Captain Falcone, definitely something to think about."

He mounted his horse and was about to speak further when he saw a woman carrying a basket of washing across the court yard. _It was her. _"Stop that woman!" He leapt off his horse and walked towards her. The woman had frozen to the spot and held her head down in reverence.

As he approached her he softened his voice and said "Don't be afraid, no one here will hurt you. What is your name my dear?"

The woman trembled he voice barely above a whisper. "Mary, my Lord."

He placed a hand under her chin, gently lifted her head and looked into a pair of frightened brown eyes. _It wasn't her_.

A woman's voice called from an upstairs window. "Mary! Cook has been looking for you everywhere, she needs you in the kitchen now!"

Mary was shaking as she spoke "I have to go my Lord."

Darken Rahl waved her away and she scurried out of sight. He felt an idiot for letting himself chase after her like a lovesick puppy. A sudden thought came to him, that voice, as he looked up a woman moved away from the window. He starred at the window, he could have her found, but how long would that take? Well he wasn't going to play her stupid games any longer. He saw General Egremont, Captain Falcone and his men watching him.

Well? What are you all standing around for? We're leaving!

As he mounted his horse again, Captain Falcone spoke.

"It was a pity your stay was so short my Lord, I hope you will visit us again."

"I doubt it Captain Falcone." Darken Rahl turned his horse and rode from Martello Castle, never to return…………


	5. Chapter 5

Several weeks had past since his visit to Martello Castle and the issue of Captain Falcone was still on his mind. Since they had returned to the People's Palace, seven of the guards that had travelled with him had put in requests for a transfer to Martello Castle. When General Egremont had presented the requests to him Darken Rahl had sarcastically replied.

"I'm surprised all the men haven't requested a transfer."

Egremont looked uncomfortable; Darken Rahl noticed that he had been doing that a lot recently. "The other five men were already Martello men, my Lord."

"Martello men?"

"It's the name former trainees use my Lord."

"Who exactly are these men loyal to Egremont, me or Captain Falcone?" He felt his temper rising.

"You my Lord, I've done some checking, (he looked uncomfortable again) about forty percent of your Dragon Corp are Martello men."

"Forty percent?"

"Martello Castle does produce the best soldiers my Lord."

"And what of Captain Falcone, when he has enough men planted in my palace, is he planning a coup?" Darken Rahl had started to pace, a habit he had when agitated.

"Captain Falcone has refused promotion many times. He says he can best serve you in his current posting. He has no desire for power my Lord, I'm sure the other generals would agree."

The other generals, Darken Rahl had a meeting planned with all his generals. Although he kept in regular communication with them all, it was good to meet face to face sometimes. He could have longer conversations which would often elicit information and opinions that would not appear on a standard report. He also wanted to get the opinion of Demmin Nass, his oldest friend and one of the few people he trusted. Demmin was currently employed in hunting down one of the Boxes of Ordin. A thankless task, he had been following lead after lead for the past few months with little success but, the man was diligent and if any man could find it, that man would be Demmin.

"The transfers my Lord?" ask Egremont.

"They are all refused! Roared Darken Rahl, "and I don't want to hear the term 'Martello man' in my presence again! Now get out!

Darken Rahl turned to grab something off the desk to throw at Egremont, but he had already made a hasty retreat. He paused; his hand had alighted on the knife she had given him.

On his return to the castle he had given the knife to his wizard Giller to examine, after a few days he had brought it back and gave his report. "It is indeed a magical item my Lord, but only to the extent that it always remains sharp and the blade cannot be broken."

As Darken Rahl took back the knife, he asked. "Giller, do you know of any magic involving a magical knife and locket?"

Giller smiled "It's a fairytale my Lord."

"A fairytale?"

"It's a well known tale my Lord. A young servant girl falls in love with a prince but, being of lowly birth, she doesn't think he will love her back. So, she sets out on a mission to obtain a magical knife and a magical locket. When she finds the items she cuts a lock from the prince's hair and places it in the locket. The prince consequently falls in love with the girl and they marry. A few years later, the girl is so racked with guilt at tricking the prince into marriage that she destroys the locket only to find that the prince is still in love with her and always has been since they first met."

"A common fairytale you say, I've never heard the story before."

"Your father would hardly have approved of you being tucked into bed at night and read fairytales."

After Giller had left, Darken Rahl had mused on his last comment for some time. His childhood had been a lonely frightening time, surrounded by old wizards and soldiers. As young boy, he was constantly trying to please a father, who always made him work hard for any praise. With no memory of his mother; there had been no softness or tenderness in his childhood. A consequence of this was that women were nothing to him, mostly weak simpering creatures to be used for his own pleasure or other purposes as he saw fit. The Mord Sith only served him because of the Rahl bond. If that were ever to be broken, he had plans in place to have them all killed.

As he stood at his desk, he thought again of the woman who gave him the knife, why did she consume his thoughts so much? He picked up the knife and turned it over in his hands. Such a simple, unassuming item with a hidden secret. How did she know it was magical and why would she give away such a valuable item? He wondered what hidden secrets she had of her own.

He had spent some time of his own studying the knife. He tried to blunt it by hacking at a stone wall, the knife remained intact; however there was a deep gouge cut out of the wall. He experimented by cutting through various materials, some resisted more than others but, the knife won through every time.

If she wanted his attention, there were better (and less dangerous) ways to have presented the knife to him. Whatever her motives, Darken Rahl had decided it was a very useful knife to possess. He had a belt and scabbard made for it and wore it whenever he travelled, the remainder of the time it would lay on his desk, a constant reminder of her.

He shouted to Egremont in the next room. "Contact the generals; we shall have our meeting at Martello Castle! I want to get their opinions of Captain Falcone!"

That's what he told Egremont, that's what he told the generals and that's what he told himself, but somewhere…. deep down….. hidden very carefully…… in the furthest corner of his mind……… he _knew_ that wasn't the real reason.

He put the knife in a drawer and closed it.


	6. Chapter 6 The return & The wager

Sorry it's taken while to post this, my short story keeps getting larger. I have quite a lot of handwritten notes which take ages to type up & refine. There is an ending to this story and the chapter after this deals with some of his childhood, I post it as soon as possible.

* * *

Before his journey to Martello Castle began, Darken Rahl had carefully selected the men to accompany him. They were some of his most trusted men, more importantly; none of them had served at the castle, or had any connection to Captain Falcone. He also decided to take Denna with him, as his current favourite Mord'Sith he knew she was loyal to him and would not be swayed by the 'charms' of Martello Castle.

They were travelling through the Woods near the castle, when Denna rode up to him. "My Lord we are being observed"

"I'm surprised you didn't notice earlier." He chastised her, but secretly was impressed; he didn't admit that on his first journey he hadn't noticed the men hidden in the woods. That's how he had been surrounded by archers on the drawbridge. Captain Falcone had explained to him later, that some of the men lived and trained in the woods for weeks on end in an effort to train men up to infiltrate into the rebel camps. Previous efforts had failed when 'disguised' D'Haran soldiers had tried to join the rebels and were subsequently recognised and killed. Darken Rahl went on to explain to Denna how there were only three routes to the castle. The woods which were guarded, a road from the North which went through the town of Three Rivers and also the River Buxton, which was half a mile away to the East and could be plainly seen from the castle. If anyone planned to attack the castle it would be very difficult to launch a surprise attack. It had its own water supply within the castle and could withstand a siege for many months.

He had done his homework on the castle that had been easy, finding out a bit more about Captain Falcone was the problem. The man had been stationed at Martello Castle just before Darken had become Lord Rahl and had been there ever since. Where Falcone was before that, no one seemed to know. He hoped his generals could give him some information when he met up with them.

* * *

Later that afternoon Darken Rahl had arrived at the castle and met up with his best friend Demmin Nass . They stood together on a balcony that looked over the main courtyard.

"How goes the search for the box?" (Darken was speaking of the Boxes of Orden)

"Not well, it's another dead end. I'm running out of ideas Darken." Demmin was the only person who openly called him by his first name.

"There are a lot of historical records kept here at the castle, talk to the clerics that run the library. It's about time they earned their pay.

"I'll do that." Demmin looked at Darken for a while

"What?"

"How goes the search for a bride?"

Darken rolled his eyes to the sky. "Don't ask, that's all Egremont goes on about these days."

"He does have a point, a ruler must have a successor Darken."

"But the women he finds are so ghastly! The ones with good breeding are either terse shrewish women, or spoilt princesses too vapid for words. Most of the others are offered to me by power hungry men, thinking that if I marry their daughter, it will benefit them. One girl actually turned up pregnant, she had apparently bedded most of her father's servants and the man had the audacity to think he could pass her off as a virgin!"

"You don't have to love her Darken, or even like her, all she needs to do is produce an heir, you can still have as many mistresses as you like."

"If I find the right one, I won't need a mistress. I want something more than a woman to bear me a child. I want her to be beautiful and intelligent. I want her to have spirit, to be equal to the task of a queen. I want…."

"The impossible?" suggested Demmin.

Darken slumped over the stone balustrade of the balcony and looked at the people below. Darken Rahl noticed a distinct lack of women in the castle, most of the servants were male, the remaining females were old and plain looking. He thought about the woman and wondered if she was watching him from somewhere. He could usually talk to Demmin about anything, but, would he think he was being foolish if he told of his fascination for a woman he'd only met once. He decided to ask Demmin's opinion but as he opened his mouth, Demmin was leaning over and shouting into the courtyard.

"Bain you old dog, you could have been here two days earlier if you hadn't stopped off at every whorehouse on the way here!"

General Bain looked up "Nass! That old woman you slept with last month is still waiting for her money!"

"Well tell your mother, it's about time she retired from the business!"

Darken laughed at the mock insults his generals gave each other as greetings. He was glad to see them in such good spirits and seeing them like this lightened his mood.

Demmin turned round. "Lets go down and see the others, most of them should be here by now."

The rest of the afternoon Darken spent it greeting and chatting with his generals as they all arrived, he didn't get another chance to be alone with Demmin to discuss the woman, instead he kept an eye open hoping that he might catch sight of her somewhere and wondered if she would visit his bedchamber again. That evening they all gathered in the grand dining room for their meal. The mood was good as old friends and rivals met & talked.

As if making casual conversation Darken motioned to Falcone and said. "Captain Falcone what unit were you assigned to before you were assigned to Martello Castle."

Captain Falcone opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by General Kroden. He was an older man who had served under his father, but one of the few men that Darken had felt was loyal enough to remain a general under his command. "Captain Falcone is a Red Dragon, one of the fifty that fought at Hawks Ridge."

The Battle of Hawks Ridge was one of the most famous battles in recent D'Haran history. Fifty men of the Dragon Corp led by a young Lieutenant Valmont, held off an invading force of five hundred men. At the end of the battle the remaining twelve men were so covered in blood that they were nicknamed the Red Dragons. Lieutenant Valmont was instantly promoted to General Valmont and was given the additional title The Hero of D'Hara. Darken had met him once when he was a boy and it had made a huge impression on his life. Now, he was sitting opposite one of the famous Red Dragons, no wonder the man hadn't broken his gaze the last time they met.

Falcone continued "After Hawks Ridge, I was lucky to serve under General Valmont throughout all of his various postings. Then, when he retired due to ill health, he came to live at Martello Castle. That is how I received my current assignment. Although officially retired, he helped to devise the current training for the men sent here. His health finally failed him and he died eight winters ago."

"You have never wanted promotion or to advance your own career?"

"No, I swore an oath of allegiance to General Valmont and have been content to continue his work here."

Darken nodded, Falcone's behaviour all made sense now. Captain Falcone rose to his feet. "I know the custom is to raise a toast to the host of the dinner, but I would like to propose a different toast. To General Valmont, The Hero of D'Hara."

As the men raised a glass and drank a toast to General Valmont. Darken regretted not meeting with the man once more before he had died, but when he had become Rahl, General Valmont was retired and there had been so much to do and Darken was a different person by then. He wondered if the General would have been disappointed with the man he became.

* * *

The evening progressed well, talking, eating and drinking turned into talking drinking and playing cards. He motioned for more wine. As the wine was poured a woman voice whispered in his ear. "Have you ever wondered why General Gadd is so good at cards? Ask him about his lucky coin." Darken Rahl remained motionless as if she hadn't spoken but, his mind was racing. He had expected her to turn up at some point, but it annoyed him that he hadn't seen her enter the room. He suspected Captain Falcone had told all the young women to stay out of the way, yet once again, she was playing a dangerous game by being here. What did she know about Gadd? He did appear to have the most incredible luck at cards and had been winning all evening. After Gadd won yet another game, he decided to test the water.

"General Gadd, once again you seem to have an uncanny knack with cards."

The general smiled "Oh just luck, my Lord Rahl."

"I feel it must be more than that, a good luck charm perhaps?"

Demmin joined in "What, haven't you heard about his lucky coin? I've been trying to win it from him for years."

"And what lucky coin would that be?"

Gadd clearly did not look very pleased at Demmin for giving away his secret but, he tried to look nonchalant about it. "Nothing special, I chanced upon a two headed coin a few years ago and just kept it as a lucky charm, a bit of nonsense really."

"A lucky charm he never loses," interrupted Demmin "let me have another go at winning the coin." He turned to Darken. "The only way to get the coin is to win it, you can't steal it, or trick him out of it, because if you do, the coin always finds its way back to its owner."

General Gadd considered Demmin's proposal "Very well, you know the rules. You decide on any number of coins to which I will add my two headed coin. You then decide who has to find the coin and that person must find the coin first time to win. The winner keeps the coin and the amount of money wagered.

"How many times have you tried this Demmin?"

"Six times Darken, but this time I have a system."

Gadd looked smug "That's what they all say, so, how many coins?"

"Twenty five." Demmin Nass put twenty five gold coins on the table and placed them all heads up.

General Gadd pulled a coin out of his pocket. "Perhaps Lord Rahl you would care to examine the coin to see that it is genuine."

Darken looked at the coin. It appeared to be genuine, he wondered how the trick was done (it had to be some sort of scam). As he placed the coin on the table he said "I want to place a temporary spell over the table to prevent any other spells being used."

"Of course my Lord." Gadd did not appear concerned.

Darken Rahl spoke a few words and swept his hands over the table. If anyone attempted to cast a spell, it would flare up and reveal the caster.

"Can someone mix the coins while we look away."

"I'll do it." Said Darken, he made sure the coins were so well mixed even he could not tell where it was now. He noted that there were no mirrors in the room that Gadd could use to cheat with.

Gadd smiled at Demmin "who has to find the coin?"

"You do."

"Your luck against my luck." Gadd moved his hand once over the coins and picked one out and held it up.

"By the stars, how do you do that?" Demmin slumped back in his chair, clearly annoyed.

During this time Darken had become convinced that it was a trick of some sort and the woman knew something, otherwise, why would she tell him of the coin if she had no involvement? Out loud he said "I think I would like to try my luck General Gadd."

Gadd was still gathering in his winnings. "Are you sure my Lord? No one has ever beaten me and I would not want to take your money in such a sure thing."

"I think tonight I may have some luck of my own."

"How much would you like to bet my Lord?"

"One hundred gold coins."

Gadd looked surprised "That is a lot of money to lose." Gadd seemed hesitant to take the bet.

"I think I can afford it." He motioned for some wine and the woman came forward, without warning he grabbed her by the arm and roughly dragged her over to General Gadd and threw her on his lap (she was the one that wanted to play games, let's see how she liked this one). "If you win you can also have this woman. Do whatever you like with her, but leave her alive by morning." Darken Rahl; was aware of General Gadd's sadistic qualities and knew he wouldn't be able to resist being given free reign to do what he wanted to a young woman. Captain Falcone started to rise out of his chair but, Demmin Nass put a hand on his arm. The two men exchanged glances and Captain Falcone sat down and instead starred at Darken Rahl with a thunderous look on his face.

Gadd's eyes grew greedy as he held the woman. "Well, if you insist Lord Rahl but, I must caution you that I always win."

One hundred gold coins were placed heads up on the table. Gadd handed the two headed coin to Demmin who placed it with the others.

Gadd said "Lord Rahl and I will turn away while the coins are mixed on the table."

"Make sure the woman looks away also." If it was a trick Darken Rahl didn't want her to know where the coin was. The coins were mixed and the two men looked back at the table.

"Your luck against my luck." Gadd moved his hand towards the table.

"No General Gadd. I'll pick the coin."

Gadd looked surprised. "Are you sure? You have to pick the coin first time to win."

"I am aware of the terms of the wager."

The room was deadly quiet and all eyes were on Darken. He looked at the woman. Gadd was confident of winning his prize and held her tightly around the waist but, she remained calm and looked at Darken with a bemused look on her face (she knows which one it is) he thought. He looked at the table one hundred and one identical coins and only one attempt. He split the pile into two and placed his left hand over one pile. The woman gave a slight shake of her head, no one else saw, they were all looking at him. "It's not in this pile he announced." Various hands went forward to turn over the coins, it wasn't there. He repeated the process and was now left with about twenty five coins. Darken studied the remaining coins and this time split them into three groups. He placed his right hand over the middle group, again another shake of the head. He moved his hand to the right, a nod. He quickly pushed away the other two groups of coins. "Not these either." Hands reached in and again verified that the coin wasn't there.

The tension in the room was electric, Captain Falcone's knuckles where white with gripping the arms of his chair, General Egremont kept opening and closing his mouth as if to say something, even Demmin Nass looked concerned. There were now seven coins left on the table. All this time Gadd continued to look confident and had already started groping the woman's breasts. She ignored him completely, instead her dark green eyes looked into Darken's soul. He saw deep red marks on her arm from where he grabbed her and had a moment of guilt about giving her to Gadd, but, his gut instinct told him that she knew the answer, so if he lost, it would be her own fault, not his. His hand hovered slowly over each of the remaining coins until he saw her nod. He placed one finger on the coin and pushed it towards Gadd, he glanced at the woman and she nodded again.

"Is this your coin General Gadd?"

Gadd gave a smirk and turned over the coin, his face dropped as he saw that it was his lucky two headed coin. A roar filled the room as everyone cheered and clapped. Captain Falcone looked as if he was going to pass out with relief. As the men congratulated Darken, Gadd got up from the table and started to walk to the door taking the woman with him.

"Where do you think you are going General Gadd?" Darken Rahl's quiet voice cut through the noise of the room which instantly fell silent.

"I thought I would have an early night my Lord."

"Not with her you don't, you lost the wager, remember?" He kicked a chair out from under the table. "Sit down General Gadd. I think some of us would like the opportunity to win our money back." Darken Rahl began to shuffle the cards; he smiled and looked at General Gadd.

"Your luck against my luck."


	7. Chapter 7 Childhood

This is a long chapter so get yourself a drink, find a comfy chair and enjoy.........................

The next morning there was a gentle knock at the door. A man servant entered the room with a tray. Darken Rahl stood at the window looking out, an imposing form, his body silhouetted within the frame of the window. He didn't turn around, but spoke in his quiet, but commanding voice.

"Where is she?"

There was a slight chink of crockery as the man began to shake. "Urm, Archery p p practice My Lord."

"Archery practice?"

"A team represents the castle at the summer fair and she is practicing with the others out on the grass plain. You can observe them from the east battlements My Lord."

Before he could ask anything else, the man servant lost his nerve, the tray crashed down onto the bedside table and he ran from the room, he forgot to tend the fire.

Darken Rahl left his room, he went outside and found the steps leading to the battlements. As he climbed he saw some of the men training below in the main courtyard. He thought again of General Valmont and the last time he had seen the man………………

Darken was fifteen years old, just over a year before, he had been sent to join his father's army. He was small for his age and his father thought that being a soldier would toughen him up and prepare him for leadership. His only comfort was that he has been assigned to the same unit as his older friend Demmin Nass. As a soldier, no allowance was given for his age, or who his father was and he was expected to perform all the duties of a regular soldier. At first Demmin would help him when he could, carrying some of the heavier equipment and showing him the best way to accomplish tasks, but most of the time he had to cope on his own. It was a rough and frightening time in his life, a boy going out on manoeuvres with grown men, no quarter given for his age or lack of experience.

It was a tough life and for the most part he bore it well. Except for one thing, actually it was two things; Goran and Kord, the two soldiers who made his life a living hell. They would never openly bully him, but they had it in for him from the start and any opportunity they had to make his life a little more miserable, they took. At first it was the odd whispered taunt or insult, but when they found he couldn't go running off to his father for help, things got steadily worse. They would 'accidentally' kick over the bucket of water he had carried back to camp, put dead rats in his bedding, once they filled his water bottle with urine. Always they were there, in the background plotting and sniggering. Demmin told him to ignore them and Darken suspected he had spoken to them, because they would stop for a while, but eventually Goran and Kord would be back to their old tricks.

About a month ago they had rejoined the main regiment, which was laying some city under siege. Darken didn't know or even cared about the details, as an ordinary soldier he just went where he was sent. Although, this place did have the luxury of two man tents, which made a pleasant change from sleeping rough outside. Demmin was currently away from camp on some scouting mission and Darken was always more cautious then, as the pair would often take the opportunity to torment him even more. However, things had been quiet for a few days and Darken began to hope they had finally tired of their games.

One morning the Sergeant announced that General Valmont would be visiting their camp that day to inspect the troops and every soldier was expected to be ready on parade in two hours. Everyone rushed to their various tasks, kit cleaned and stored away, weapons checked and the camp had to be spotless. Darken had completed his tasks outside and went into tidy the small tent he and Demmin shared. There wasn't much to do as Darken was by nature a neat and tidy person. He then went to put on his sword, but discovered it was missing from its scabbard.

His first thought was Goran and Kord, this was their doing, they knew he couldn't go out on parade without his sword. He ran out of his tent, where would they hide it? He raced over to the cook's tent, it wasn't hidden in the food sacks or barrels and all he got was a cuff around his ear from the cook who thought he was trying to steal an apple. He checked all around the camp, but didn't dare ask anyone, he couldn't possibly admit that he had lost his sword. He saw Goran and Kord and went over to where they were sitting by their tent cleaning their equipment.

"Where is it?"

"Where is what, your highness?" Goran retorted in a mocking tone

"You know what I'm talking about! Where is it?"

"Kord, do you know what his highness is talking about?"

"Not at all Goran, perhaps he should go ask the pigs."

They both laughed at him.

Darken ran over to the edge of camp where they kept a dozen pigs. He stuck a stick into the swill trough and moved it around, it wasn't in there. He was about to climb into the pen and start looking through the mud when he stopped. It wasn't going to be there, Goran and Kord had said that so he would make a fool of himself. Instead he ran back to his tent, perhaps they had hidden it somewhere in his own tent. He started frantically tearing the inside of the tent apart; he even went through Demmin's personal trunk, he felt guilty for doing so, but he hadto find his sword. Eventually he stopped; the tent was a wreck and no sword to be found. He sat on the edge of his cot and threw his head in his hands. He had never felt such despair, he could feel the tears pricking at the back of his eyes. Throughout all his time in the army, all the hardship, the bullying and misery, he had never cried once and now….

He heard a noise from the back of his tent, something wrapped in a dirty cloth was pushed under the canvas, followed by a hand, then a head and body. A girl of about six years old appeared, he assumed it was a girl as she was wearing a dress, but apart from that it was difficult to tell. She was filthy, there was mud on her face, her hair was matted, Darken looked closer, what was that in her hair? It looked like sh..(Ugh!) and by the stars what _was_ that smell?

He sat there not knowing what to say, eventually he mumbled.

"Girls aren't allowed in the men's tents."

"I know, that's why I crawled in under the side."

"What's your name?"

"Ellie, what's yours?"

"Darken"

"I found your sword Darken." She handed over the grubby cloth.

"How? Where?" Darken grabbed the cloth, it smelt as bad as the girl.

"I saw two men throw it into the latrine, so I got it out for you. I tried to clean it up a bit".

"You climbed into the latrine, into….., to get my sword?" (No wonder she smelt)

"I've got to go now, my governess is looking for me." She crawled back under the canvas and disappeared.

"Thank you Ellie!" Darken shouted after her, but the girl was already gone.

Darken couldn't believe his luck, he had his sword back. Outside came the final call for parade, he opened the package she had given him, the sword still had mud and 'stuff' attached to it, he grabbed another cloth and gave it a quick wipe over. It still wasn't clean, but he didn't have any more time. He threw the sword into its scabbard hopping no one would notice and ran outside to take his place.

The men stood to attention in the small open space in the centre of their camp. It was nearing the end of summer, the sun was burning off the last of the morning mist and it looked to become another pleasant day. As they stood there Darken could hear Goran and Kord whispering in the row behind him, he ignored them, and was grateful that he had his sword back. They stood for some time, General Valmont has still not appeared, although his unit was part of General Valmont's regiment, they hadn't had the honour of seeing the great man so close before. Darken was quite nervous, he had heard so much about him, had studied the account of the battle of Hawks Ridge so many times, he could quote it word for word. General Valmont was the man every good soldier aspired to be. The wait continued and the air around them got warmer.

Within any group of soldiers there was always the odour of men. It was one of the things that Darken had struggled with when he first arrived. Coming from his castle life with access to baths and scented soap, the raw sweat of men, took some getting used to. As a soldier, you could have a quick wash out of a bucket of cold water and sometimes, if you were lucky enough to camp near one, a swim in the river, eventually, it was just one more hardship that Darken had gotten used to. As the temperature started to rise he was aware of the odours around him, but one smell started to become stronger than any of the others. He became aware of the unmistakeable stench of excrement, to his horror he realised the smell was emanating from him, or to be more precise, his sword. He had wiped it over (there had been no time to wash it properly), but had not removed every single trace and so as the temperature rose, the smell intensified and all he could do was stand there. He heard sniffing from behind and whispered voices.

"I say, what is that unusual odour?"

"Smells like royalty to me."

Goran & Kord as usual, but to his horror, several of the other men sniggered as well. Darken was mortified, worse than that though, General Valmont had arrived, he stayed frozen to the spot, hoping that as he was in the second row he wouldn't be noticed. Unfortunately General Valmont seemed very keen to see all his troops and started walking along his row towards him. Darken closed his eyes hoping it would all be over soon, when he opened his eyes the General was standing in front of him.

The sergeant spoke "Present arms!"

Darken paused for a moment, then took the sword from its scabbard, the smell intensified and Darken thought he would die of embarrassment.

General Valmont looked at him with kindly eyes and spoke very softly, but with great authority. "Is there a reason your sword is in such a condition soldier?"

"No sir." He felt so unworthy as he stood before the great man. Goran and Kord sniggered behind him.

"I cannot let this go unpunished. You will clean your sword and then clean all the spare equipment held by your unit.

"Yes sir." His face burnt with shame. There was more sniggering, but General Valmont appeared not to notice.

"Are you sure you have no explanation?"

"None sir."

General Valmont moved on and continued his inspection. A horrifying thought occurred to him, what if the General told his father of this incident? Although Darken wrote home, he had no direct contact with his father and they had not spoken since he had enlisted. He knew his father had people watching him from time to time and reporting back, but to hear this news from General Valmont himself, his father would never forgive him for bringing such shame to the Rahl name. This truly was the worst day of his life.

* * *

Later that afternoon as he continued to clean the equipment, he saw Demmin had returned, he didn't look up as his friend walked over. Demmin in turn didn't speak at first, but sat down beside him, picked up a leather scabbard, and started to apply polish. For a while they worked in silence, eventually Demmin spoke.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Darken didn't look up and continued working. "Bastard Goran and bastard Kord, _that's_ what happened." He didn't say anything about being helped by a six year old girl.

"I'll talk to them."

"No, don't. It will only make things worse."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's my problem, I'll sort it." He had no idea how, but didn't want his friend to think he had to protect him all the time. He looked at Demmin.

"The tent is in a mess and I'm sorry I went through your things."

"Don't worry." Demmin got up and put a hand on his young friends shoulder. "I'll clean up the tent."

Darken continued to clean the equipment, he missed supper, not that he minded, he felt too embarrassed to eat with the other men and he didn't finish until it was almost dark. As he was packing away the last of the equipment, his sergeant approached.

"The General wants to see you now soldier."

"Me, why? I've finished cleaning the equipment."

"Are you disobeying a direct order from your superior?"

Darken stood to attention. "No sir!"

"Follow me." The sergeant walked so fast Darken almost had to run to keep up. They stopped outside a tent. "Well, in you go." Darken hesitated, the sergeant grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him through the doorway and closed the entrance to the tent.

"Ah, Darken." General Valmont looked up from some papers, he motioned him forward. "Come in, sit down."

Darken cautiously approached the desk and sat down.

"Have you had any supper?"

"No sir."

"Here." He passed over a large plate of buttered bread and cheeses. "Help yourself."

Darken tucked into the food, he hadn't realised until then how hungry he was. General Valmont continued to look at the papers on his desk. Darken noted that they were actually maps.

"Do you know what the army is doing here Darken?" He noted the general kept using his first name.

"No sir, they don't usually let us ordinary soldiers know what is happening."

"About a mile away is a city, we have been laying siege to it for two months now. That's two months of wasting time, men and resources."

"Why don't you just attack the city?"

"Come here and look at these maps."

There were various maps and detailed drawings of the area. The city was sited high up on a mountain, it was exposed only on one side and the remainder was protected by a huge mountain range.

"Our siege engines are too low down and far away to do any substantial damage. The only way into the city is along this narrow road, which leads up to a drawbridge; unless this drawbridge is lowered we cannot enter the city. We have tried to scale the walls, but the men have been shot down by archers before they have even reached the wall. There is no known way over the mountain and they have enough food stored to withstand a siege for at least another 8 months. It will soon be approaching winter and I do not want my men suffering unnecessarily through the particularly harsh snows in this area.

"Can you poison the water supply?"

"The water is supplied from natural springs which flow from deep within the mountains."

Darken studied the maps and thought for a while. "Where does the waste go? If there are no openings at the front, it must leave the city somehow."

General Valmont smiled. "It just so happens that today one of the scouting parties has returned, about two miles away from the city, they have found a small entrance, some sort of sewer pipe. It had a heavy metal grid over it and was well hidden. They think it may lead to the city."

"Are you going to attack from that way?"

"It would be difficult, the opening is small, I could not send a whole army that way."

"But you don't need an army, just a few men who could get inside, lower the drawbridge and open the gates. Casey and Verco are small men they could do it."

"Yes, I have already considered them, but I would like you to go also."

"Me?"

"Yes, I think you should lead the men Darken."

"But they're older than me. I've no experience of leadership."

"One day Darken, you will become a great leader."

"I hope to be like my father."

"No Darken, you will never be like your father, you will be better than him. You have a great destiny ahead of you and it has to start somewhere. Tomorrow you will lead the men into the city, lower the drawbridge and open the gates."

"I thought that after earlier today…." He blushed at the thought of that morning's humiliation.

General Valmont placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We cannot change our past, but we can always change our future."

"I won't let you down sir."

"I know you won't, I believe in you Darken."

That evening, Darken walked back to his tent with more hope in his heart than he had ever had before.

* * *

He arose early the next morning and travelled with Demmin (who had been in the scouting party) and the other men to the location of the entrance. He saw the entrance was about five foot wide, he could just about stand upright in it, the metal grid had already been removed. There wasn't much room in there for fighting, so the men decided to removed their armour and stripped down to shirt, trousers and boots, they also decided to leave their swords and just take daggers and crossbows which would prove more useful at the other end. The remaining equipment consisted of fresh water, a day's supply of food, some rope a hacksaw and metal file in case of unknown obstructions. It had been estimated that without any delays they could reach the city in a couple of hours, they would then wait until dark, disable the guards at the gatehouse, lower the drawbridge and open the gates.

As the torches were being lit, Demmin completed a last check of Darken's equipment. "Take care my friend, I know you can do this."

"Thanks."

He took a lit torch and led the way into the pipe. At first the journey was easy; they waded through ankle deep water and could almost walk upright, only the occasional rat scurried past. However, as they continued the pipe began to twist and bend and appeared to take a more circular route. At one point they entered a small cave and had to climb up to the outlet which was six feet above them. The pipe became a tunnel which got narrower in places and at other times would widen into a large passage way. They eventually climbed through a particularly narrow passage that unexpectedly opened into a large cave. A small waterfall cascaded down on one side, but there were three other tunnels, the men looked at them in despair.

"Where do we go now?"

Darken realised the two older men were looking at him for orders and it occurred to him that he really was in charge of this mission. "We'll rest for twenty minutes."

While the men rested he studied the openings then pointed to one. "We need to go this way." He paused then said "We're following a sewage pipe, trust me I know what shit smells like." He smiled and then they all started laughing. After a few moments Verco said.

"Goran and Kord really are bastards aren't they."

Casey agreed. "I thought when they started picking on you, that they might ignore me, but no such luck."

Darken stared at the two men. "I thought I was the only one they bullied."

"Sorry, but you're not that special, Goran and Kord, like to share their attentions. Casey and I have been tormented by them long before you turned up."

"Do you remember that time they bound and gagged me then stuffed me into a kit bag. I wasn't found for ten hours."

"I thought you had deserted and spent the day convincing the sergeant that you were doing various chores around the camp while I tried to work out where you had gone."

Darken listened as the two men traded stories, some things he had experienced, others he was now pre-warned about. It wasn't pleasant being bullied, but now he had two allies who knew exactly what he had endured and that thought made things a little more bearable. When he got back, something would have to be done about Goran and Kord, he didn't know what, but his future felt a little brighter.

They continued along the chosen tunnel until eventually they emerged into a large chamber. This appeared to be the main drainage channel for the city, numerous smaller tunnels led off this chamber and they systematically tried each one until they found a chamber that appeared to be directly beneath the courtyard which was designed to carry away the rainwater. Around the walls there were smaller pipes about twenty inches in diameter. On one side iron rungs were set into the wall which led to a metal hatch in the ceiling of the chamber. Casey climbed the rungs and examined the hatch.

"It's locked from the other side; I can see a heavy metal bolt holding it in place." He climbed down. "There is no way we can break though from this side, we're going to have to find another way into the courtyard."

"What are we going to do?"

Again the two men looked to Darken for an answer. They were all tired and dirty and were still only halfway through their mission.

"Let's rest for a while."

They rested and ate some of the food, it was still light outside and they could hear people walking around above them. Darken considered his options, the metal hatch definitely couldn't be broken through from this side, at least not without making a lot of noise and attracting the attention of the guards. They could go back to some of the other tunnels and find a way up to the surface, but they wouldn't know whereabouts in the city they would emerge and would then have the added problem of finding their way back to the main courtyard undetected. After they had eaten he extinguished the torch, slivers of light came through the edge of the metal hatch, the light also came through two of the small pipes in the walls. He walked over to one, put his head into it and looked up, it sloped upwards at about a forty five degree angle, he could just about make out the grate for the drain at the other end. They may put a bolt over a metal hatch, but no one ever locked the grate on a drain. He looked at Casey and Verco, they were too big, but he thought he could just about get his shoulders into the pipe. He turned to the others.

"I've got an idea."

They waited until dark and then waited another hour. Casey and Verco had been taking it in turns to listen at the hatch for movements above. All was quiet and there didn't seem to be anyone walking about in the main courtyard, the main focus for the guards would be on the battlements looking out towards the enemy camp. General Valmont had made arrangements for the camp fires to burn a little brighter and the music, singing and general voices from the camp to sound a little louder, not enough to cause alarm, but enough to make the guards relax a little, safe in the knowledge that their enemy has settled down for the night. What they didn't know was that this 'distraction' was being orchestrated by only a few people, the main body of the army were slowly moving into position waiting for Darken and his men to open the way into the city. Darken had the two men help him into the pipe, they pushed him in as far as possible, but now it was up to him he only just fitted and there wasn't much room to manoeuvre. He inched his way along the pipe and hoped that he wouldn't get stuck; he thanked the stars that he didn't suffer from claustrophobia. It took about fifteen minutes to crawl the few short yards to the grate, where he breathed a sign of relief. For the first time he could see some of the courtyard, fortunately the drain was by a wall and not in the middle as he had feared. He tried the grate, but it didn't move, he first thought was despair, all this effort! He calmed his thoughts and concentrated on his breathing, 'men made more rational decisions when calm' something else he had been taught, he then took out his knife and traced around the edge of the grate, trying as quietly as possible to remove the build up of accumulated dirt and grunge. He tried the grate again, this time it moved; slowly he lifted the grate and climbed out of the drain. He crouched by the wall and looked around, there was no one about, the battlements overhung the edges of the courtyard, if he kept to the wall, nobody from above would see him. He heard muted voices from the gatehouse over the other side. Carefully he moved over to the metal hatch, it had a heavy bolt, but fortunately no lock. As quietly as he could he slid open the bolt and released his men from their 'prison'. The two men climbed out and moved with him over to the wall. They made their way around to the main gate. There was a small window into the gatehouse, Darken peered in, two men sat at a table playing cards, there was another man asleep in a chair. He could see the mechanism for the drawbridge in the room, they would need to deal with the guards.

However, before that they would need to remove a large heavy wooden bar from the gate. The three of them tried to lift the bar, but it was too heavy for them. Darken knew that once the drawbridge was down the gates could be battered open, but how long would that take and how many lives would be lost while doing so? He instructed the two men to keep watch. He had been trained in the use of magic and could cast a levitation spell, but had only tried it on simple objects such as chairs and rocks; he had never attempted something as heavy as this. He closed his eyes and concentrated, he slowed his breathing and felt the magic within him, then let his mind flow out to his surroundings, he felt the warmth of the men beside him, felt their breathing and the anxiety within, no, that wasn't what he needed; he withdrew and searched further. He felt the stones of the city below and around him, the coolness and calm of centuries, its strength and steadfastness. He drew its energy within him and started the incantation. The magic flowed through his body and out from his hands to the wooden beam. Even with the use of magic Darken felt as if he was physically lifting the beam, it was heavy, too heavy, he continued the incantation, continued concentrating and slowly the beam lifted from its slot. He moved it around and lowered it gently onto the ground and then he collapsed exhausted. Verco helped him up and moved him over to the wall.

"Stay here, we'll deal with the guards."

He rested in the shadows and watched as the two men went to the door of the gatehouse. Casey scratched at the bottom of the door and mewed pathetically. The man was looking down when he opened the door, expecting to see a cat, what he found was a knife to his throat, the man backed into the room followed by Casey and Verco, there were a few muted sounds and it was quiet again. Darken struggled up and went over, inside he saw that the guards had all been quickly dispatched. They locked and barricaded the door, then set about lowering the drawbridge. Immediately, there were shouts from above, but it was too late. The three of them remained barricaded in the room, they were not dressed for battle and didn't want to be mistaken for the enemy and so stayed there until the sounds of the battle subsided.

They emerged from the room when the courtyard was filled with hundreds of soldiers cheering as General Valmont rode into the city. The great man looked over, caught Darken's eye and nodded his approval. Darken returned to camp with the others and life resumed as normal, he never had the chance to speak to General Valmont again.

There were no medals or honours given to the three young soldiers who had struggled through the sewers to let the army into the city, but a few days later, in a roundabout way they had their reward. They found that the problem of Goran and Kord had resolved itself. The two men had been found dead in a slurry pit belonging to a local farmer. Some empty bottles of beer had been found near by and it was presumed that the men had fallen in and being too drunk to climb out had drowned. No one had mourned their passing.

All these years later, as he stood on the battlements, he smiled as a thought occurred to him, he wondered if somewhere, filed away in the army records was a neat little report of the incident and subsequent investigation.

He stared out over the battlements to the grass plain below. There were about a dozen people there, most of them soldiers, but two were women. He felt frustrated that at this distance he couldn't distinguish between the two of them, they were about the same height and wore the same servant uniforms.

One of the soldiers was giving a very impressive display of riding and shooting a crossbow at the same time and the two women clapped as he hit the targets.

"They're tipped to win this years competition." His friend Demmin had joined him.

"You're in a good mood." Late night drinking and early mornings didn't usually agree with Demmin.

"I had a good night, won quite a bit at cards actually." He paused. "I saw you climb up here, looking for anything in particular?"

Darken didn't answer and the two men stood in silence for a while as they watched the archers practice.

"Who is she?" He had said the words more to himself than to Demmin and was surprised when he replied.

"She is General Valmont's daughter."

"His daughter? I thought she was just a servant."

"Her official title is Lady Ellissia Valmont; she prefers to be called Ellie."

_To be continued_…………………….


	8. Things are not as they seem

Sorry for the delay in updating the story, as usual reality get in the way of the fun things in life.

* * *

continued......................

Ellie, could she be the same scruffy little girl he had met all those years ago? Out loud he said "I didn't know Valmont had a daughter."

"Most people think she died, including your father."

"That seems an excessive thing to do to avoid the Mord'Sith tribute. I'm sure Valmont could have afforded to pay."

His father Panis Rahl would sometimes arrange for the daughters of wealthy families to be abducted for training by the Mord'Sith. However, if the family pleaded for her release and their plea included a large amount of money as compensation, then he would recant and the child was returned to the family. Since his father's death, Darken had abolished the practice.

"I heard rumours that she had some kind of ability, before you ask, I don't know the details, but it was something worth more to your father than a payment of gold. However, before he could act she had an accident, fell out of a tree or something. Valmont took the opportunity to pretend that she had died and posed as the grieving father. His wife had passed away the year before and he gave the appearance of being so mentally affected by the loss of his only remaining child that he retired from the army. With the help of Falcone they moved the girl to this castle. When Valmont died, she chose to remain here."

"She has no other family or residence?"

"As far as I know she only has her title."

"All alone in the world, with no one to protect her."

"She has protection, at the time of her supposed 'death' Valmont asked some of his trusted men to swear an oath to protect her. Falcone was one of them."

"Who were the other men?"

"I saw some of them, but only knew the name of one other."

"What is his name?"

"Demmin Nass."

"You chose to betray my father?"

"Valmont was an honourable man, your father was a bully and a thug. Don't forget Darken, I saw the way he treated you and I fully backed you when you removed him from power. Saving a little girl, the daughter of a man I admired from the clutches of Panis Rahl wasn't that difficult a decision."

"So, you've sworn to protect her."

Demmin hesitated for a moment. "Darken, that protection includes her virtue. This is one woman you can not use as a plaything then throw away."

Darken would have killed a lesser man for speaking to him that way, but Demmin had proved his loyalty many times over, he deserved to be heard out. He asked the question, he didn't want to ask.

"And what would you do now if your oath to Valmont conflicted with your allegiance to me?

Demmin didn't speak for a while and instead looked out over the battlements; the group had finished their practice session and were clearing up the equipment and returning to the castle.

"When I posed my problem of the boxes to the clerics, one of them said that he knew of an ancient historian called Osward of Greenmarsh who wrote about the Boxes of Orden. He will contact some of his fellow librarians to find out the location of his writings. It is most likely that these writings will be in a library many miles from here and I may be gone for some time."

Darken had his answer, his friend would not be around to disrupt his plans.

"When do you leave?"

"When would you like me to leave?"

"There's no hurry (the woman could wait), stay a few days, I miss your company and Egremont is not the most sparking of conversationalists."

Demmin laughed "That's true."

They stayed on the battlements until the archery party had returned. Darken watched as the two women entered the yard, he recognised her female companion as Mary, the girl he had accosted on his first visit. A soldier ran up to Ellie and whispered in her ear, she looked serious and followed the soldier in the direction of Falcone's office. No doubt to receive a telling off from Falcone for disobeying his orders last night. He decided to follow.

"Where are you going?" Demmin looked worried.

"To pay my respects to the Captain this morning." Darken smiled. "Don't worry, while you are here I shall be on my best behaviour." Demmin said nothing, but still looked worried.

As he walked to Falcone's office, he began to formulate a plan. He would woo the woman away from Falcone and this castle. She was obviously keen for his attention and he couldn't blame the woman, having been reduced in society from a lady to a servant, it was natural that she would want to find a way to improve her social standing. He would offer her the opportunity to become his mistress; she would make a pleasant diversion until Egremont found him a suitable wife. Of course he would have to break her spirit somewhat, but Denna could help with that when they returned to the People's Palace. He had been ignoring her lately and Denna had been in a foul temper ever since arriving at the castle, a chance to torture someone might cheer her up.

He was about to open the door to the Captain's office when he heard raised voices a man and a woman arguing, he listened, it was Falcone and Ellie.

"I still cannot believe you could be so reckless!"

"I wasn't in any danger!"

"Not in any danger! He gave you to Gadd! Of all the sadistic bastards there are in the D'Haran army. He gave you to Gadd! Ellissia, if anything had happened to you…."

"But it didn't."

"That's not the point! I won't be able to protect you forever."

"You don't have to protect me now, I am a grown woman, I can take care of myself!"

Darken Rahl smiled and moved away from the door. Falcone had no hold over her, he would simply wait a few days, if this was done correctly there would be no need for conflict, she would follow him willingly and Falcone would be unable to stop her. He walked down the corridor and left them arguing.

It was a pity that he didn't stay longer and listened to the remainder of the conversation.

"Your father gave up everything to protect you from the Rahl family and if this man finds out what you are capable of, do you think he will stop until he possesses you? He will hurt everyone you know until you agree to do his bidding! I'm not talking about myself, but your friends, everyone in this castle, everyone in the town!" There was a long pause, Falcone spoke again, but in a quieter, softer tone. "He's not the boy your father knew. Lord Darken Rahl is a very dangerous man. Ellissia, look into your heart, would your father really approve of this man?"

There was a pause "No, he would not approve."

"Promise me you will stay out of his way until he leaves. With any luck the man will be gone by tomorrow."

* * *

Unfortunately for Captain Falcone, Lord Rahl did not leave the next day or the day after that. He spent several days at the castle in the company of Demmin Ness. The captain was not happy about the situation, but there was nothing he could do. However, Lord Rahl had taken no further interest in Ellissia, or any of the female servants at the castle and had actually requested the company of a couple of whores from the town to 'entertain' him in the evenings. After their conversation, Ellissia had kept away from Lord Rahl, now if only the dammed man would leave…………….

* * *

Darken Rahl decided to play the waiting game. He knew that she would not be able to stay away. He pretended he had no further interest in Ellie and spent the next few days in the company of his friend Demmin. Secretly though he kept an eye out for her, he found out that she was treated like any other castle servant and he saw her from time to time carrying trays, sweeping floors and other domestic chores. He usually watched her from a distance and if she did look towards him, he would look away and pretend not to see her. In fact he made a point of ignoring all the women in the castle and sent for some whores, they amused him for a while, but his thoughts were always of Ellie.

One morning he walked past a window and saw some women below, they were in one of the numerous courtyards, this one was used for drying washing. The women were hanging sheets on the lines, Ellie was with them and he stopped to watch her for a while. As they placed the last of the sheets on the line, one woman started a game by pulling off someone's headscarf. The woman with uncovered hair chased her companions until she could cover her hair with a headscarf taken from another woman. Darken watched as the women laughed and giggled like children as they ran in and out of the linen sheets. Someone pulled off Ellie's headscarf and a mass of mahogany hair fell around her shoulders. Darken held his breath for a moment, as he realised how stunningly beautiful she was. He continued to watch as she laughed and ran and something stirred within him. He wondered what her body would feel like, how she would taste when he eventually kissed her and he wanted her, more than any other woman he had ever desired before. Suddenly, she looked up at the window and stared, Darken moved back from the window, his heart quickened; she had seen him and knew that he was watching her. He realised that since the argument he had never seen her alone, perhaps Falcone was having her watched and she was waiting for him to approach her. He moved towards the window again, but she was gone, the courtyard was deserted and all that was left behind were the white linen sheets billowing in the wind.

The next morning Darken Rahl stood at the gates of the castle with Demmin Nass. A message had come through late yesterday afternoon, the clerics had located some writings by the ancient historian and as predicted they were in a location many miles from the castle.

"How long do you think it will take to get there?"

"At least a week, I'm also taking one of your clerics from the library here, you don't mind do you?"

"Of course not, anything to help speed the search."

Demmin gave Darken a final embrace and whispered in his ear. "Take care Darken, please don't do anything foolish my friend."

Darken smiled back at his friend. "I shall be fine, I'm sure the situation will resolve itself amicably."

He watched with some regret as Demmin rode away from the castle. He would miss his friend, but was glad he would be out of the way. Now all he had to do was find Ellie and charm her away from here.

* * *

The following day Darken decided to have a wander around the castle, although not as vast as the People's Palace, it was still a large place, there had been many additions over the years and the place was a huge sprawl of added wings and courtyards. He had obtained a book about the history of the castle from the library and started to explore the place. That was the pretence that he gave to Falcone, but he had an idea of where Ellie worked and thought he could 'accidentally' bump into her. As he explored, he realised that he was being followed, Falcone's idea no doubt. Darken ignored his follower and for a while appeared to studiously read his book and look up at various buildings, then without warning he managed to give his follower the slip. However, as he dodged in and out of doorways to evade his follower he also managed to get himself very lost. He eventually found himself wandering through a series of courtyards that led from one to another, he about to turn a corner when he heard voices. Darken peered around the corner and saw Denna and Mary on the ground along with a spilt basket of washing.

"You stupid girl, why don't you watch where you're going!"

"I'm sorry, it was an accident, here, let me help you." The girl got up and went over to help Denna up.

"Don't touch me, I don't need any help from a servant!" Denna yelled as she got to her feet. Darken saw Ellie approach.

"Please, she meant no harm, it was an accident."

"She needs to be taught a lesson in manners." Denna took out her agiel

"Ellie stepped forward, this time her voice was more challenging. "I said, it was an accident."

Denna rose to the challenge, she stared back at the woman. "Well I say she needs to be taught some manners." Denna thrust the agiel forward, but before it touched Mary, Ellie had grabbed the agiel and held it tight.

"Mary, leave us." Mary needed no encouragement and ran out of the courtyard. Ellie continued to hold the agiel; the two women stared at each other as Denna started to buckle under the pain.

Ellie spoke quietly, but firmly. "The people in this castle are under my protection, you will not harm them, do you understand?"

"Yes." She released the agiel and Denna fell to her knees.

Ellie picked up the basket of washing. "I'm so glad we have come to an understanding." And without waiting for a reply she left.

Darken had witnessed the whole incident and his heart was pounding, she was pristinely ungifted, no wonder his father had sought her out. Before now he had known only one such person, his half sister, but he had people watching her and she was unaware of her abilities. However, this woman knew what she was capable of, had that been her plan to get him to trust her and then what? He calmed his breathing and began to think, he was vulnerable here at the castle, Falcone would be on her side and there was no time to send for more troops. If he left the castle and came back with a greater force, he was sure she would be gone. All he had were his wits and a few dozen men loyal to him. He had to act quickly, separate Falcone from the woman; once she was alone he could then take full control of the situation. He took another deep breath then walked calmly around the corner towards Denna.

He spoke in a soft velvety voice and hid all appearances of his fear. "It appears we have another pristinely ungifted one amongst us. What other secrets have the Mord'Sith been keeping from me Denna?" He knew she wasn't keeping secrets, but it did no harm to imply it.

"Lord Rahl!" Denna tried to hide her surprise at his arrival. "None my Lord, but the woman, I don't think she is pristinely ungifted. She could feel the pain of the agiel, she tried to hide it, but it was there."

"Then what is she? I know she escaped the Mord'Sith selections and is untrained in the use of the agiel, so how can she withstand the pain?"

"I don't know my Lord, but I will find out. I will interrogate her straight away."

He raised a hand. "No, not yet. Tell no one of this. I will need to make some arrangements first."

Darken went back to his room and got out his journey book. It was a smaller book than the usual ones kept by his commanders. No one including Egremont knew he had this with him and it allowed him to have his own private communications free from prying eyes. He made a small cut on his arm, one that would be concealed by his robes and wrote to the commander at the Peoples Palace.

* * *

As Lord Rahl, General Egremont and Captain Falcone ate their meal that evening, Lord Rahl announced.

"Captain, it has been a most interesting stay at this castle, I certainly have learned a lot here, but I have other pressing matters and will be leaving for the Peoples Palace first thing tomorrow morning."

Captain Falcone showed no emotion. "I am glad you have enjoyed your stay, I will inform the men and have them prepared for the journey."

"There is one thing. I would like to take something back with me"

The captain stiffened slightly. "What would that be my Lord?"

"Egremont is particularly fond of one of the desserts your cook prepares. I wonder if you could get the recipe for him." Lord Rahl, smiled as he saw the captain relax, he knew it was a mean thing to do, but Falcone deserved it. He then pressed the Captain to tell him his experiences of the battle of Hawks Ridge. He wanted to hear the story again, but also he knew that it would take Falcone's focus away for a while and to be unguarded for what would happen later. As Falcone told of the battle, Lord Rahl began to realise that he was right to deal with the captain before he touched the woman. He now knew how much he had underestimated the man. He was undoubtedly brave, but also very intelligent, a brilliant statistician, with a strong sense of duty. Lord Rahl had no doubt that if the man had not stifled his career with this ridiculous vow to Valmont, he would probably be one of his best generals by now. He could have just killed the captain and taken the woman, but the man was a very valuable asset and Lord Rahl relished the thought of pitting his wits against him. He was sure that once he had the woman under his control, Falcone would soon fall into line. Towards the end of the meal, one of the soldiers came into the dining room.

"My Lord Rahl, there is a message from the Peoples Palace. The commander wishes to speak to you on a matter of great urgency."

"Well, what is it?"

"He wouldn't say, just that the information was for your eyes only, he used the codeword 'Abyss'."

Darken Rahl jumped to his feet and ran to the door. "Egremont, get my horse ready!"

He was half way across the courtyard before Falcone caught up. "My Lord, what is wrong?"

"How many men can you muster Captain?"

"I have 60 men almost fully trained."

"Good we'll need them all. There will still be enough men to guard the castle?"

"As long as the drawbridge is raised a small force of men can easily hold the castle for several weeks.

"Excellent." By this time they had reached the captain's office. Lord Rahl went to the journey book; he wrote a few words to identify himself and got the reply _'It has started, more men needed at the Palace. My Lord you must go North to the chosen place, Geller will join you there'_ Lord Rahl allowed Captain Falcone and General Egremont to read the entry then tore the pages from the book and threw them on the fire.

"Captain Falcone, I need you and your men to ride to the People's Palace immediately and report to the Palace commander. General Egremont will accompany you."

"May I ask what you intend to do My Lord?" Captain Falcone appeared slightly suspicious.

"I shall take my Dragon Corp and ride north. I should also like to take your Lieutenant with me, his expertise in this region will be invaluable."

"Of course My Lord, I will inform him immediately." Captain Falcone left the office (no doubt to instruct the lieutenant to keep a close eye on Lord Rahl).

Egremont approached "Excuse me My Lord, but I have never heard of the code word 'Abyss'."

Lord Rahl ignored his comment and said "When you get back to the People's Palace you will wait there until I sent for you."

"You will be careful My Lord."

Lord Rahl smiled. "I know exactly what I'm doing Egremont."

Within half an hour the two groups of men were mounted and ready to leave the castle.

As Lord Rahl led his men out, he called to Captain Falcone. "Stay alert Captain and may the spirits keep you safe on your journey."

"I wish you a safe journey as well My Lord."

Lord Rahl and his men left the castle and rode north; they were followed a few minutes later by Captain Falcone and his men who rode south. The soldiers left behind in the castle closed the gates, raised the drawbridge and waited…………………


	9. Things are not as they seem  part 2

Lord Rahl and his men left the castle and rode north; they were followed a few minutes later by Captain Falcone and his men who rode south. The soldiers left behind in the castle closed the gates, raised the drawbridge and waited…

One hour later riders approached the castle; it was Lord Rahl and his Dragon Corp. One of the men shouted up at the castle. "Let us in we were ambushed outside the town, your lieutenant is badly injured!" The lieutenant lay in the arms of a Dragon Corp guard and was barely conscious. The drawbridge was lowered and the party rode into the courtyard.

"Get that drawbridge raised, everyone to their posts and someone find a healer for the lieutenant!"

Lord Rahl barked out a series of orders as he dismounted from his horse. Some of the Dragon Corp ran to take charge of the gates, the scared raw recruits that had been left behind readily relinquished their responsibilities to the more experienced men. The lieutenant was gently lowered from his horse and carried to a bed. He was bruised and beaten, but managed to mumble the words "trap…ambush" before falling back into unconsciousness. What the soldiers carrying him did not know was that his injuries were caused by Lord Rahl's men forcing him to take a powerful sleeping draught. He would be unconscious for at least thirty six hours. The commotion has disturbed the whole of the castle and the servants started to gather in the courtyard. Ellie walked out of the main hall into the courtyard. She approached and asked.

"What has happened to the lieutenant?"

"Arrest that woman and take her to the dungeons and see that she talks to no one!"

The castle inhabitants looked shocked as she was taken away, they kept quiet, but one of the newer recruits shouted "You can't arrest her, she done nothing wrong!"

A fireball shot from Lord Rahl's hand and hit the man squarely on the chest, the force was so powerful that it lifted him off the ground and slammed him against a wall where his body became engulfed in flames. The man cried out for help, but the flames were too fierce and powerful to be put out before he died.

Lord Rahl's voice was quiet, but deadly. "Now, does anyone else have a problem following my orders?"

No one answered, no one dare answer. Lord Rahl looked around the courtyard, saw the frightened faces and was pleased, fear kept people in line. With Captain Falcone well on his way to the People's Palace there would be no rescue attempt, the status quo had been restored and once again he could do what he liked. He gave a few instructions to his guards, there was to be a curfew starting now, the servants would stay in their quarters unless needed and the remaining castle soldiers would take their orders from the Dragon Corp any disobedience would be punished by death.

"Are my female 'companions' still in the castle?"

"Yes My Lord."

"Then I do not wish to be disturbed for the rest of the evening."

He went to his quarters oblivious to the fact that far below in the servant's quarters there were mutterings of dissention. They had all gathered in the servant's common room.

"What do we do now?"

"We should fight back."

"How? You saw what Lord Rahl did to that soldier."

An elderly man spoke.

"Tom I need you to find Captain Falcone and bring him back to the castle."

At eleven years old Tom was one of the youngest servants in the castle. "Yes sir, but how? They won't let anyone leave."

"We will lower you down the side of the castle by rope. You will have to swim the moat run into town and borrow a horse. Can you do that?"

"I will do anything to help Ellie sir."

"Good lad."

"The blacksmith has a grey mare that's the fastest animal in the area, but he won't let just anyone borrow her."

"Tell him the request comes from me and he'll let you have the horse."

"Yes sir."

"Now ladies, I will need a suitable distraction for the guards at the North tower."

An outsider would think it strange that they were taking orders from the gardener; he was an elderly, quiet, unassuming man who spent most of his time tending the gardens and keeping himself to himself. Yet he held a great deal of respect from the other castle inhabitants. It could be that he was considered wise. It could be that he would spend the time to listen to people's problems and help them find a solution. It could be that he had been friends with Captain Falcone for many years and they would often hold council together as they did last night when Falcone left Lord Rahl in his office. Or, it could be that when he was digging in the garden he would occasionally have his sleeves rolled up and then you could see, tattooed on his right forearm, the image of a red dragon...

The next morning, Darken Rahl was in a very good mood, he had slept well and unusually for him arose late. He breakfasted alone, when he finished he sent for Denna.

"Any problems?"

"No My Lord, the servants are unhappy and have been whispering amongst themselves, but they are all too weak and pathetic to offer any resistance."

"Have you heard from the Commander at the People's Palace?"

"Not yet My Lord."

Darken Rahl gave a small frown. "They should be there by now." He spoke to one of his men. "Tell them to send a scouting party to find out where Falcone and his men are. Denna, come with me, let's have some fun with our 'Lady' in the dungeon."

Lord Rahl entered the dungeons followed by Denna and told the guards to take him to the woman's cell. As he walked into the corridor he heard singing, it was the woman. His good mood vanished, it appeared that a night in the dungeons had not dampened her spirits at all. He noticed Denna grinning and then realised why. The song the woman was singing was not some sweet lament, but a song he recognised from his time in the army. It was called 'The milkmaid and the soldier' and was the coarsest, bawdiest soldier's song he had ever heard, even some of his generals would have blushed to hear the lyrics. He scowled at Denna, who immediately stopped grinning and instead said. "The song's called the.."

"I know what it's called!" snapped Darken. "Guard open this door!"

As the door to the cell was opened, the singing stopped. The woman stood as he entered the cell and looked him in the eyes. "Good morning My Lord, I trust you slept well?"

He ignored her flippant remark and said. "I want to see how pristinely ungifted you are, Denna give her your agiel to hold."

Denna handed over the agiel and the woman showed little discomfort as she took the agiel and began to examine it.

"Such nasty things." She spoke more to herself than anyone in particular. She turned it over in her hands and held it up to her ear as if listening to it, then continued to move it around by her finger tips. "It's like a bag of hornets all swirling in a red and black mass of anger and pain."

Darken Rahl was fed up with her theatrics. "I want you to touch Denna with the agiel."

"No, it will hurt her too much."

"Touch her with the agiel or he dies." Darken Rahl pointed at the nearest guard.

She looked at Denna. "Where will it cause you the least inconvenience?"

Denna realised that the woman was deadly serious and steeled herself for what was about to happen. "My left arm."

"Stop the chit chat and do it!" Commanded Lord Rahl.

She took a breath and held the agiel against Denna's left arm. Denna stood firm for a moment, then cried out and fell to her knees with the pain. The woman dropped the agiel on the floor.

Lord Rahl held out a hand. "Give me all the keys to this cell."

One of the guards rushed to comply, Lord Rahl took the keys.

"Get out and make sure no one comes in here, if they do, I will have you and your families killed and your bodies burnt so that no one can revive you." He looked at Denna for the last part.

Denna staggered to her feet and even thought her arm hung uselessly at her side she still brushed away the guard who tried to help her up. Darken Rahl closed and locked the door. As he walked around the young woman he threw the keys into the corner furthest from the door and then slipped off his outer robe, he wanted his arms free for what would come next. Lord Rahl picked up the agiel. He thought that in some ways it was a pity Captain Falcone wasn't here, to soon see how little he cared for the captain's policy of not touching the women.

As he stood there, it appeared Lord Rahl's wish had come true, there was a commotion in the corridor and he heard Captain Falcone shouting. "Lord Rahl, get out of the cell immediately!" "He is not to be disturbed!" "Tell your men to stay back Captain, this is Lord Rahl's business." Fighting had started in the corridor, "Get out, Lord Rahl, before it's too late." "Where are the keys?" Fists were banging on the door, more shouting, swords clashing. "Get Edwards, he used to be a locksmith!" There was a man screaming in pain in the corridor (Denna's agiel was at work), various voices shouting. "Someone stop her." "Stay back, you are not to pass." "Get that Mord Sith bitch out of here!" (Denna wasn't going down without a fight) "Ellissia, don't hurt him!" "My Lord, you must get out of there!" (was that Egremont?) Someone had arrived with an axe and was trying to break down the door; he knew it would take at least an hour to get through the solid oak door, more than enough time for what he had planned. Outside the cell it was bedlam, shouting, panic, banging and hacking. In contrast inside there was silence, he stared at her as she turned to face him.

"Please Lord Rahl, don't do this."

Darken Rahl smiled, this is how they all started by begging and pleading for mercy. Soon she would be on her knees before him offering ways to pleasure him and earn his forgiveness. He thought of what he was going to do with her, the pain he would create over her soft warm body. He wondered how much pain she would endure before succumbing to his will. She appeared to feel less pain from the agiel than an ordinary person and he looked forward to experimenting on her and finding her weaknesses. Finally when she had no will left at all, he would sexually violate her in every sordid way possible, he was looking forward to that most of all. Darken started to feel aroused at the thought and licked his lips in anticipation. She had bothered him for months, well no longer, this woman would be his, body and soul.

"Please, Darken, you really don't want to do this." She looked more sad than frightened.

His desire to break her grew even more, how dare she use his first name, she had not earned the right to do that. Oh he was going to enjoy this. Enjoy her. He pushed the agiel hard into her side and she winced at the blow.

Lady Ellissia Valmont looked up at him into his eyes and into his soul. Time seemed to slow down and Darken felt like he had been staring into those lovely green eyes for an eternity. Then the pain hit him, intense, searing pain, more pain than an agiel should be capable of producing. It instantly smothered his arm and flowed through his body, his head felt like it was filled with a multitude of fiery stabbing knives as if every synapsis in his brain had simultaneously exploded.

And everything went black...


	10. Hunted

Darken Rahl awoke and slowly opened his eyes. He was laying in a grove in the woods, the day was warm and he could hear bird song. He sat up and looked around, he was alone. How did he get here? He examined himself; he had no visible wounds and was wearing a D'Haran uniform. He had no weapons, just a water bottle and a bag that contained a piece of bread and some apples. Darken was confused, did they just let him go? He heard voices and instinctively ran out of the clearing and hid in the tall bracken. Two men entered the clearing; they were not wearing uniforms, but were armed, they looked well used to fighting so Darken remained hidden.

"Stop for a minute, I've got a stone in my boot" one of the men sat on the ground and removed his boot.

"Well hurry up, there's only a few hours till dark, he must be found before then!"

"How did he escape anyway?"

"General Egremont helped him, though he won't be doing that again."

"Why not?"

"Didn't you hear, the general was put to death."

"That's a bit harsh for helping his former master."

"He said it would serve as a warning, man woman or child, anyone trying to help Darken Rahl will be put to death."

Darken shrunk back into the woods a little, but continued to listen.

"Haven't you finished yet?"

The first man stamped on his boot. "Done, let's get going I want to get that reward."

The men moved out of the clearing, Darken sat for a moment, Egremont dead? He got up, wiped his face and moving as quietly as he could and headed in the opposite direction. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed to get as far away from those men as possible.

Darken had been walking for about half an hour when he first heard the hounds baying. He started to run through the trees, avoiding the main paths, but the sounds got closer and men were shouting, the hounds had got his scent. Fear made Darken run faster and as he ran, brambles tore at his clothes and skin, he stepped on a bramble and a large thorn stuck in his boot, after that, every time he placed weight on that foot he felt a small stabbing pain, but dared not stop running for fear of being caught. The sounds of men and hounds grew ever louder, Darken stumbled across a shallow ditch; he jumped in and ran in ankle deep water, splashing his way up stream hoping that as his scent travelled down stream it would confuse the hounds. The banks of the ditch started to get deeper and Darken decided to climb out, he was hot and tired, his lungs felt raw as he gasped in every breath and his feet slipped in the mud as he climbed, but he had to keep going he couldn't stop now, as tired as he was he managed to crawl out of the ditch on his hands and knees.

In front of him he saw a pair of boots, he looked up and a man's body was silhouetted against the sun. Darken put up his hand to shield his eyes, but still could not see the man's face, dread filled his soul as the man spoke.

"So brother we meet at last."

"Who are you?"

"I am the Seeker, the rightful leader of D'Hara and I have come to claim my throne."

"But, but I am the elder brother, I should inherit fathers title."

"Yes Darken, but you are not worthy and anyway," the Seeker knelt down beside Darken and whispered in his ear "Father always loved me the best."

"Father loved me too, he…he just didn't show it very often." His voice trailed off as he realised it wasn't true, he knew his father loved his other son 'The Seeker' more. In a quiet defeated voice he asked "What are you going to do to me?"

The Seeker stood again "Why, I am going to kill you. Goodbye brother."

The Seeker lifted the Sword of Truth high into the air, then swung it full force down towards Darken.

"No!"

Darken Rahl awoke and opened his eyes. The room was dim and he was in a soft warm bed, he had been having "The Nightmare" again, it had haunted him for years throughout his childhood and had only stopped after… after he had 'resolved' the situation. He still on occasions felt pangs of guilt over what he had done, but they were insignificant to the dread and horror that had filled his heart as a child knowing that his brother would one day hunt him down and murder him.

His head hurt and when he tried to move every muscle in his body screamed out in pain. He closed his eyes and tried to breath without it hurting. A soft hand touched his forehead and a female voice said.

"Drink this My Lord, it should help with the pain, I've sweetened it with honey to make it more palatable."

She helped him drink the bitter/sweet liquid and he felt relief course through his body. He opened his eyes and saw it was the young woman; he tried to call for the guards but could only manage a whisper.

"You need to sleep My Lord and regain your strength."

Darken tried to struggle up and croaked "Don't want to sleep, don't want to dream."

"Then sleep without dreams."

She placed a hand on the side of his head and Darken fell into a dreamless sleep…...

.  
To be continued... next chapter- Prisoner or Patient?


	11. Chapter 11

Many apologies for making you all wait. I rewrote theses chapters a few times until I got them right. There is an ending to this story and it may take time, but I will finish it.

**Prisoner or Patient (part 1)**

Darken Rahl awoke and slowly opened his eyes. It was morning and he could hear bird song through the open window. He was still lying in a soft warm comfortable bed, but this wasn't his room. He struggled to sit up and look around he was still weak and tried to call out for help, but again could only manage a whisper.

General Egremont approached the bed and sat down by his side. "My Lord you live, I came back as soon as I heard you were in danger."

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Five days My Lord."

"Five days, but I have business to attend to." He made a feeble attempt to get out of bed, but was too weak to move.

"Everything is being looked after for you, no one knows what has happened and it would be unwise for your enemies to discover you were ill and weakened. You need to rest and recover your strength."

Darken lay back, as well as being physically weak his mind was clouded and he found it difficult to think straight. "Why am I so weak, what magic was used on me?"

"You used offensive magic which reverted back to you but also expanded in force, the magic you were hit with was from the agiel, but multiplied several times, you are lucky to be alive My Lord."

"Where am I?"

"Still in the castle, they moved you to the Royal Chambers, the current occupant gave them up for you."

"I suppose that's the least Falcone could for me, where is he now?

"He is waiting for my report on your condition."

Darken was going to ask more when he spotted the woman. "What is she doing here?"

"She is the only servant who is willing to tend to you. After the 'incident', all the others were too scared."

Darken looked at the woman. "You are not scared of me?"

"You are a dangerous man My Lord, it would be foolish not to be scared, but you are my Lord and ruler of D'Hara and you need to be made well again."

"You suppose I will show mercy if you tend to me?"

"Maybe not for me, but the others are blameless in this matter."

He turned to General Egremont. "Where is my travelling case?" Maybe it was his condition, but something did not seem right, Egremont looked sincere, but nervous. Darken wanted his secret journey book in order to contact the People's Palace, he wanted to know what exactly had happened and why Falcone had been allowed to return to the Castle. At this moment he did not trust anyone in this castle, but was in no position to do anything.

"I will ask for your things to be brought to you My Lord."

The woman interrupted them. "My Lord, you still need to heal, please, drink some more of this potion and get some more rest."

She helped him drink some more of the healing potion. As she rearranged his pillows and bedding, General Egremont and the woman faded from sight as once again Darken fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

The next morning Darken felt more refreshed and was able to eat a little porridge for breakfast. A short while later one of the soldiers brought in his travelling case and placed it on the bed, he waited until the man left then opened the case. Everything was as he left them except that the knife was missing, only the scabbard remained, but that was to be expected. He examined the secret compartment in the base and found his journey book was missing. No one knew he had that particular journey book, not even Egremont, yet that witch had somehow discovered its hiding place and stole it from him.

Lord Rahl pushed the travelling case off the bed "What have you done with it!" he roared.

She walked calmly into his room "What have I done with what?"

Lord Rahl flung out his hand, nothing happened, he tried again, still nothing no fireball, no flames, nothing. He stared at his hands in horror.

"What have you done to me witch, where are my powers?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I don't know, the last time it happened his powers came back after a couple of days, yours may take a little longer to return."

"How much longer!"

She picked up a candle stick and placed it by his bedside "Here, you can practice on this. Oh by the way General Egremont is here to see you." She let the General into the room and then left closing the door behind her.

"Egremont, my powers, they're gone and that witch has stolen them. I want you to send for Geller immediately, see if he can undo that witch's magic and get the palace commander to send two squadrons of the Dragon corps. I've had enough of Falcone and his witch."

"I cannot do that My Lord."

"Why not, have you decided to side with Falcone and that witch? I will not tolerate disloyalty Egremont, you will suffer their same fate."

"It's not that My Lord." General Egremont struggled for words. "I wasn't entirely honest with you at our last meeting, you were so ill, I didn't want to cause you more concern…."

"Concern about what?"

"Falcone has total control of the castle; all communications to the Peoples Palace are controlled by him and they have no idea about your 'situation'. Your men are locked in the dungeons, Denna is severely injured and under guard and outside of these rooms I am accompanied by two guards at all times." Egremont paused. "My Lord, outside of this castle, nobody knows what has happened to you."

"I don't care if you are accompanied by twenty guards, you had better find a way of getting me out of here!"

"I fear you are still too weak to be moved, if you stay another couple of days and regain your strength I will try to find a way out."

"And what if they kill me in the meantime?"

"If they wanted to do that you would be dead by now my Lord. I think they are hoping that by returning you to health, you will show mercy on them."

"When I am recovered, every man woman and child in this castle will suffer because of this. Now Egremont how are you going to get me out of here?"

They spoke for a while on various escape plans. Lord Rahl told Egremont about the secret journey book, he did not show any surprise, but then he was use to his master's ways. They decide that for the moment, Lord  
Rahl would wait until his physical strength retuned and in the meantime Egremont would pretend to cooperate with Falcone while finding a way to gain access to the castle journey book or, find the one taken from Lord Rahl. After about fifteen minutes there was a knock at the door and a soldier appeared to take General Egremont back to his room. He also had another visitor, it was Denna, she was no longer wearing her Mord Sith costume, but a simple shift dress and dressing gown. Denna could only walk supported by one of the servants, Darken recognised the servant as Mary, he was surprised that she had been told to aid Denna, especially after Denna had nearly attacked the girl at their last encounter.

"An impressive black eye Denna, at least you put up a fight against these rebels." Denna, blushed furiously.

"What?"

The two women stood there, both looking embarrassed, eventually Mary spoke. "She refused to take her healing potion, so I hit her."

Lord Rahl starred for a moment then burst out laughing, it hurt him to laugh, but it was the first thing that had cheered him up in days. "So, the mouse has conquered the tiger. Denna come closer."

As Denna lent towards Lord Rahl, he caught her by her good arm and pulled her closer, his smile faded and he spoke quietly to her. "You will do as this mouse says in all things, do not resist or cause a disturbance in any way, when I am ready I will send for you."

"Yes My Lord." Denna knew Rahl and feared him more than any humiliation caused to her by a servant. She also knew she would be given a chance to have her revenge on Mary at a future date, so could afford to be patient.

He released her arm. "Leave me."

Lord Rahl laid back in bed, there was nothing for it, he would have to pretend to cooperate with that witch until he could escape, but that didn't mean he had to make life easy for her, so for the next two days he ran her ragged with his requests. It was too light in the room, could she draw the curtains, then it was too dark, could she open them, but not too much, he was too hot, too cold, hungry, thirsty, most of all he needed his pillows rearranging, he discovered early on that in rearranging his pillows as she leant over him, her breasts would occasionally brush against his cheek, he hadn't had a woman for days and every time she leant over him, he felt stirrings unfortunately on the second morning his desire got the better of him, as she leaned over he grabbed her around the waist and buried his head in her bosom.

"Ow, Ow, Owwwwwwww!" She had twisted one of his ears between her fingers.

"Ow, that hurts!"

"It was meant to hurt!" She released his ear.

"It's your own fault, if you didn't keep flaunting yourself and thrusting your breasts into my face, I wouldn't have reacted."

"I was not flaunting myself!"

"Ever since my first arrival, you have been throwing yourself at me at every opportunity."

"I have not." Darken noted a slight blush to her cheeks when she denied the charge.

"What happened? Got tired of spreading your legs for Falcone and want someone younger with more power? Well when I leave, he can keep his royal bedchamber and you. I'm not interested in used goods!"

She stood silent for a moment clenching her hands, she shook and there were tears were in her eyes.

"I am not Captain Falcone's lover, and these rooms were my father's!"

She stormed out and slammed the door so hard some of the furniture shook.

Darken had mixed emotions, he felt smug that he had managed to make her cry, but felt guilty at the thought of General Valmont, this was his room and he wondered again of what the great man would have thought of him now. He felt uncomfortable with the answer and pushed it from his mind…

.

She had now been gone for hours and Darken was bored, although his body was still weak his mind was active, he had spent sometime on thinking of ways to escape the castle, then he tried lighting the candle for about an hour until he finally gave up. There was a book on a chest of drawers, but that was on the other side of the room. He sat for a while listing all the possible punishments he could think of for Falcone and his witch. He tried to sleep, but wasn't tired. He then resorted to counting the flowers embroidered on his bedspread, but soon got fed up. Ultimately he was bored, it had been hours since she had stormed out, it was starting to get dark and no lamps were lit or fire made. As he lay there wondering what to do next, he realised he needed the bathroom. It was through one of the other doors in the bedchamber, previously she had helped him walk to the bathroom, he then insisted that she wait outside until he had finished, then she helped him back to his bed, but now he was alone and there was no one to help him.

"Hello!... Hello?" (no one came)

"I need some help!" (silence)

"Hello?...Lady Ellissia?...Ellie?... I'm…I'm sorry, please help me!" (more silence)

"Bitch" he muttered to himself

The urgency became worse; he decided he would have to get there on his own. He pulled away the sheets and with some effort managed to swing his legs over the side of the bed. Holding onto the bedpost he managed to stand up, but when he took a step he collapsed on the floor.

"Damn!"

Darken tried to get up, but couldn't so decided to crawl on his hands and knees, the only problem was that he was wearing a long nightshirt and as he crawled his body moved forward, but the nightshirt kept getting caught underneath him and he had to keep stopping to pull it up over his knees so not to catch it. After the third entanglement he managed to pull the blasted thing off and threw it as far as he could, it landed a foot away. Eventually he crawled to the bathroom and after relieving himself crawled back towards the bed. The whole effort was exhausting, he tried to pull himself up onto the bed, but the effort was too much and he ended falling down and collapsing on the floor on his back. Too exhausted to move he just lay there, the room was almost in darkness now and he shivered with the cold, the nightshirt lay just beyond his reach...


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 - Prisoner or Patient (part 2)**

She came into the room with a lamp, stopped for a moment and stared at a naked Darken Rahl laying on his back like an upturned beetle.

"What are you doing on the floor?" (She sounded more annoyed than concerned)

"Where were you? I've been calling you for hours."

She ignored his question walked past him, picked up his nightshirt and placed it on a chair then went to the bathroom, Darken could hear running water. After a while she returned, helped him up wrapped a dressing gown around him and started guiding him towards the bathroom.

"I've already been there, I want to go to bed."

"I'm taking you to the bathroom because you need a bath."

"Why?"

"Because you stink."

Darken prepared to cast another insult, but recanted, he didn't fancy another few hours bored, cold and alone. The water was hot and scented and as she helped him into the bath he felt an enormous amount of relief, his body warmed up and his aches and pains faded away. She started to help him bath.

"I don't need any help bathing."

"Well, I'll just wash your hair."

Darken started to complain, but it felt so good, he didn't resist. After she rinsed his hair she said.

"You can manage the rest on your own." She got up and left him.

Darken sat in the bath and relaxed as the warmth of the water enveloped him. After a while she returned, helped him out of the bath, wrapped him in warm soft towels and sat him in a chair while she dried his hair with a towel then gently combed the knots out of it. She then picked up a fresh nightshirt for him.

"I'm not wearing that thing, I prefer to sleep naked."

"Well you will have to wear a dressing gown while I help you back into bed. I don't want to be accused of flaunting myself at you."

She was still angry with him and Darken said nothing as she led him back to his bed. He noted that while he had been in the bath, a fire had been made and the bedding had been changed and wondered if she had done this herself or other servants has entered the room. He knew that he had to find out more about his situation, before he could make any meaningful attempts at escape and that would mean he would have to control his temper and pretend to cooperate with this witch.

"I'm sorry…about earlier." That was the only apology he could bring himself to make.

She didn't look in a forgiving mood and just said "You must be hungry, I'll bring you some food." She left the room. The bath had made Darken feel sleepy and before he knew it he had drifted off to sleep….

.

Darken thought he was dreaming, he was trapped, something heavy was on his chest holding him down, he felt like he could hardly breath, but then he realised it wasn't a dream, he was awake and something, someone was laying on top of him. He opened his eyes and stared into a pair of green eyes.

"Hobbs, leave him alone." Ellie lifted the biggest ginger tom cat he had ever seen off his chest and put him on the floor. Hobbs did not look pleased.

"Sit up, I've brought you some supper." As Darken sat up, she placed a tray in front of him, on the tray was a plate of chicken, potatoes and assorted vegetables, the meat had been cut up and he had a wooden spoon.

"No knife and fork?" (He knew why)

Ellie ignored the question, as she went into the next room she said, "Don't give that cat any chicken, he supposed to be catching rats and mice."

When she left the room Hobbs, defied her by immediately jumping onto the bed. Darken defied her by immediately feeding Hobbs some of his chicken.

"What do you say Hobbs?" He whispered "It's you and I against the witch."

Hobbs purred with delight at the chicken and for the moment he was definitely on Darken's side. Darken ate his meal in silence, she had left the door open and he could see her sitting at a desk writing letters. When she wasn't watching he would continue to sneak pieces of chicken to Hobbs. When he had finished she came and removed the tray, she saw Hobbs sitting on the bed having a wash, but said nothing. As she left Darken called.

"I'm sorry I insulted you earlier." (He wasn't really, but could pretend for a while)

She stopped and looked towards him. "You were upset." She showed no emotion and Darken couldn't tell if she believed him, she turned to go, but Darken called again

"Can I have a book to read?"

She put the tray down and went over to the dresser and picked up the book he had seen earlier. It was the book he had been reading about the castle.

"Will this do?" She offered him the book.

"Thank you… Don't go, can you read to me? She looked at him quizzically.

"I've got a headache." Darken lied, she had lived here from childhood and probably knew more about this castle than anyone else. How ironic it would be if he could escape using the information she gave him. She started to read, every now and then Darken would interrupt asking various questions, but her voice was smooth and calming and as she read, he began to ask fewer questions and just listened while absentmindedly tickling Hobbs on the head, until he slipped into a deep sleep.

Darken awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and better than he had for a long time. Hobbs had disappeared and she was tending the fire. While her back was turned he tried to light the candle, but nothing happened. She saw that he was awake.

"How do you feel today?"

"Much better, thank you."

"I'll get your breakfast." She was only gone a few minutes and returned with his breakfast.

"General Egremont is here to see you, do you want him to wait until you have finished eating?"

"No, send him straight in." Darken hoped for some good news

"My Lord I have brought the daily reports from the People's Palace as you requested." Egremont declared in a loud voice.

"Excellent, bring them here, you don't mind if we have some privacy while I discuss these?" He held his breath, he hadn't requested any reports, but Egremont obviously had some news for him, which he didn't want her to hear.

"Of course not." She left the room and closed the doors

Egremont pulled up a chair by the bed and spoke in a quieter voice. "I managed to convince Falcone to get you the daily reports. I thought it would be a good way to see you every day and talk without any one suspecting." He opened up the reports in case anyone should look in.

"Last night I saw a soldier that I recognise; he is the nephew of a friend of mine. If I can speak to him, I will be able to convince him that it is in his best interests to help us."

"How are you going to do that if you are constantly under guard?"

"They rotate my guards, so it will only be a matter of time before I meet him."

"How many guards are there outside of these rooms?"

"There is nobody My Lord."

"Nobody?"

"You and the woman are the only occupants in this entire wing. If she needs anything there is a bell pull in the next room."

"Nobody at all? Do they think me so weak, that I am not worthy of any guards at all?"

"One guard is left if she leaves the room, but the door is locked, everyone is afraid of you My Lord. Lady Ellissia was the only one who volunteered to care for you."

"I suppose it's her witchcraft that keeps her safe."

"She is no witch, but she has magical abilities beyond reckoning. I spoke to Falcone about her, he would not say much, other than she is descended from one of the great wizard families. Falcone said your father found out about her and sought to use her abilities for himself."

"What kind of abilities?" Darken had assumed that she had used a spell on him to remove his magic.

"He refused to tell me, but I have heard rumours amongst some of the soldiers that she can just look at someone and know that they are confessed."

Confessed people usually showed no outward appearance of being so afflicted, it was only when friends or family members talked to them, or their Confessor was attacked that their devotion was apparent, doing everything to protect them, up to and including giving their lives to save their Confessor. The Confessors had in the past confessed D'Haran soldiers and servants and made them infiltrate various places to commit assassinations or act of sabotage. In the worst cases men were taken as mates and repeatedly raped to provide a continuation of the Confessor line. It was a vile practice, at first he had the men captured and tried to remove the confession by magic, when that failed, wives and children would plead with the person to see sense. Torture & pain did not release them, he even had some of them killed and brought back to life by his Mord Sith, but they returned with the same obsessive devotion. A few escaped the curse, but only if the confessor was killed, however over half of the people saved eventually committed suicide, unable to live with the knowledge of what they had done while being confessed. In the end as soon as they were discovered Darken simply had them killed, it was the kindest way.

Now Egremont was telling him there was someone who could just look at a person and know if they were confessed. If she could be controlled, she would be a great asset. No wonder his father was eager to possess her.

"Did he say anything else, how does Falcone control her?"

"I don't think anyone can. Please My Lord while you are here, you must take the utmost care when she is near you."

Darken chose not to mention the argument he had with her earlier and changed the subject to planning his escape which they discussed until the guards returned and took Egremont away.

And so past the next few days, in the mornings Egremont would visit with the reports and they would discuss various plans for escape. Escape from the castle itself seemed at the moment impossible, but if they could contact the commander at the Peoples Palace, he could bring the whole of Darken Rahl's forces to this place and force Falcone to surrender. They drew maps of the castle layout from what Egremont had seen and the information Darken had gleaned. There were many corridors and courtyards, someone unused to the layout could easily get lost, so they tried to memorise various routes in preparation.

Darken also got the woman to help him to exercise, by supporting him as he walked around the room, he became stronger but hid it as he wanted her to think he was still weak. At night he would walk around the room and practice basic sword exercises. He had tried to leave the bedchamber, but found the door locked, there were two other doors, one led to the bath chamber, the other door he opened, to his surprise it was a nursery, there was a cot and various other pieces of furniture, a few toys lay on a cabinet. Then he saw it, a picture of General Valmont with his arms around Ellie, no, he was mistaken, the general looked much younger. The woman was about Ellie's age and was stunningly beautiful, she had the same green eyes, he deduced that she was Ellie's mother. The artist had done excellent work in capturing the love these two people had for each other. Darken had no idea what his mother looked like and wondered if his father had ever loved her, he put the thought from his mind and closed the door.

One morning General Egremont arrived with news, he had contacted the nephew who after some persuasion agreed to help, he would release the Dragon Corp who were currently imprisoned, supply them with arms and help create a distraction. He would time it for when Lady Ellissia was away from the rooms and there was only one guard left. When the alarm bell sounded Lord Rahl would escape the rooms and hide in another part of the castle, they had discovered that there were many unused rooms and it would take many hours to discover him. During the disturbance, Egremont would access one of the journey books (he had discovered the location of the second book) and send a message, even if they were all recaptured it would be too late, the message would be sent.

Later that afternoon, she announced "I have to go out for a while, is there anything you want before I go?"

"My powers."

"They will return eventually."

She left the bedchamber and Darken heard the outer door open and close, he had been waiting fifteen minutes when he heard the bell ringing it's alarm to the castle, he quietly slipped out of his bed, pushed over the bedside cabinet then lay on the floor. The loud noise brought a guard into the room, who immediately ran over to the unconscious form of Lord Rahl. As he knelt down, Lord Rahl swung a fist and laid the man out cold, he then quickly stripped the man of his uniform and put it on, it wasn't a bad fit and with the hood up he would easily pass for one of the guards. He looked around but the man had no weapons, neither knife or sword, which Darken thought strange, but he had to move and could find a weapon later.

He ran through into the next room to the doors, they were locked

"Damm!" Darken searched through the mans pockets, there was no key, he could not understand why the door was locked, but there was no time, he went over to the fireplace, perhaps he could use one of the fire irons to prise open the door.

"Would you like to play a game of chess?"

Darken swung round, sitting in one of the chairs, was the woman, the high back had hidden her from his gaze and she was setting pieces on a chess board

"What the.. how did you..?"

"If you win, I'll let you go."

"If I win? I'll have you know I am one of the best chess players in the kingdom."

"Is that what they tell you?"

"How do I know this isn't a trick and you won't use your magic to win?"

"I won't trick you or use any magic, I give you my word."

"The word of a witch?" He mocked

She straightened up in the chair. "The word of Lady Ellissia Valmont, daughter of General Valmont, First Commander of The Red Dragons." She stared straight into his eyes, totally unafraid. Darken found it slightly unnerving, everyone was afraid of him, especially women, but not her and he found as she looked at him that he believed she would keep her word.

"When I win, you say you will let me go, but what about Falcone?"

"As I said, I will let you go, your Dragon Corp will also be freed and you may do as you see fit, no one will stop you, not even Captain Falcone."

"And if by the remotest chance I lose, what then?"

"You stay here until you are fully recovered."

Darken thought for a moment, he didn't want to play her games, but if he did, it would be the easiest way out of this castle. He sat down in the opposite chair and they started to play. After about twenty minutes there was a noise from the bedchamber and a dazed guard, staggered into the room.

"I'm sorry My Lady, but Lord Rahl….

"It's all right," she went over to the half naked dazed guard and looked at his face "go and report to the sergeant, then see the healer." She walked him to the door, took a key from her pocket unlocked the door and let him out. She then retuned to the game and they continued to play. Darken was annoyed that it hadn't occurred to him that she would have the key, he was also annoyed that he was losing the game, she played a lot better than he suspected. Eventually after almost an hour, he conceded defeat.

"I'm still not feeling well, that's the only reason I lost. I want to play again."

"Maybe tomorrow. When you are feeling better."

"The same terms and conditions"

"Of course, you can reset the board while I prepare your bath."

She got up and left him, Darken looked around, the room was a large lived in room filled with various pieces of furniture which included at the other end of the room a desk, the surrounding walls were covered by bookcases filled with books and scrolls, where he was sitting there was a large fireplace and across the other side of the room there was a set of double doors, the doors to his freedom. Darken considered breaking out of the room, but he knew he couldn't escape the castle, winning the game would be the easiest way. It annoyed him that he had lost, even more so that it was to a woman, that woman, but he was confident that he would win next time. He reset the chess pieces and then went for a walk around the room. He looked at the letters on the desk, she seemed to constantly write and upon examination of the envelopes, Darken noted that he recognised many of the names from noble houses, provinces and adjoining territories. He opened one of the letters and read it, most of the letter was female chit chat, but part was about him.

...Lord Rahl has decided to grace us with his present, it is so exciting to have him here and he is even more handsome in person... Darken smiled, he knew she wanted him, despite her outburst the other day. He continued to read...he is so brave as well and has taken to hunting in the woods near by, though I do fear for him as the soldiers say he rides faster and harder than any of the others and I would hate for him to have any kind of accident…Accident! Were they planning to kill him after all? He tore open more of the letters and they all said the same thing.

"Your bath is ready My Lord."

Darken looked up, she saw him holding the letters but said nothing. He dropped the letters on the desk and went to bathe. As he passed her he said "Come through in a few minutes and wash my hair."

Neither of them spoke about the letters for the rest of that day, he bathed, ate, and as usual Hobbs kept him company while Ellie read to him. The next morning as he was now mobile, he was given fresh robes to wear and sat at the table by the window to eat his breakfast. The daily reports were delivered without General Egremont, who had been confined to his room for a few days for his part in the planned escape. Darken eventually broached the subject when they were playing chess that afternoon, he was doing quite well and was confident of victory this time.

"So, you plan to let me go then kill me in the woods later."

"Not at all, the letters were written in case you did not recover. It would not benefit D'Hara if you were to die."

"Benefit D'Hara, what do you care for my country?"

"It is my country too."

"You know nothing, locked away in this castle."

"I know a great deal more about your people than you do standing on your balcony waving at them."

"I've travelled the length and breadth of these lands meeting people."

"People that were deemed fit to meet you. Have you ever, sat in a tavern, or walked through a market place?"

"No, have you?"

"Yes."

Darken said nothing further and returned to the game at hand. He couldn't concentrate properly, she disturbed him, she spoke to him as an equal and the only other person to do that was his friend Demmin Nass. It was a most peculiar feeling. Since he had become Lord Rahl everyone deferred to him, nobody argued back, or told him he was wrong, except her. These thoughts preoccupied him and he lost the game. He didn't demand a rematch.

The next day before lunch she led him out of the rooms into a deserted hallway, they walked halfway along the corridor until they got to a door. She opened the door, winding steps led down.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

It felt like they had gone down only one level when they reached another door, Ellie produced a key and unlocked the door. Through the door was a garden, so large, he couldn't see all of it from where he stood, tall windowless walls surrounded it and within there was grass, flowers and trees. He walked through in wonderment.

"This is so beautiful, I didn't know it existed, I never heard anyone mentioned a garden."

"It was created by the original owner for his wife, there are only two doors into this garden the one we came through and another which is used by the gardener, he is the only other person allowed access. I thought you might like some fresh air."

Ellie led him around the garden showing him various places until they reached an area where a blanket and a basket lay on the ground shaded by a silver birch tree. She sat down and started to unpack the basket, there was food, the chess set and the latest book she had been reading to him. The book was called 'The Philosophy of Government' and they had spent the last few days discussing the chapters she read to him. Darken hated to admit it, but he had enjoyed these discussions, he had initially pretended to be interested to put her off her guard in preparation for the escape, but she had a keen mind and offered insightful comments. Darken secretly wished he had a few more advisers as intelligent as her who would offer such frank opinions. He knew they wouldn't, anyone with any intelligence, wanted to live more than disagree with him, he understood and hated the situation at the same time. He knew too that once he escaped the castle, he would have her captured and force her to use her powers to aid him, if she didn't then she would have to die. It would be regrettable, but outside of this castle he couldn't have someone openly defying him, that would lead to anarchy, pity though, he was beginning to enjoy her company. Darken sat down and took the plate of food she offered, they ate in silence for a while.

"Tell me about your powers." Darken didn't look at her and tried to sound casual as he ate.

"This is my favourite spot in this garden, I've often thought of having a garden seat put here."

She ignored his question and Darken didn't pursue it. She chatted instead about the plants in the garden. It was a glorious place, the air was warm and scented and in the background the bees hummed and the birds sang and Darken felt a peace he hadn't felt for a long time. Later they played chess, though the game was interrupted when Hobbs ran across the board in pursuit of a pigeon that had landed near by. They laughed as the chess pieces scattered and Ellie admonished him for disrupting the game, but Hobbs didn't care and merely plonked himself down on the blanket and started to have a wash. Ellie offered to replay the game, but Darken declined, he wasn't in the mood for chess, instead they lay on the blanket together looking up at the sky through the leaves of the tree.

"Did you get in much trouble with your governess?" Darken was referring to their meeting as children.

"Yes and no. She scrubbed me clean with carbolic soap, whipped me with a hazel switch, then made me apologise to my father for being a wicked girl and a disgrace to the name of Valmont."

"What did your father say?"

"He sent the governess out of the room and then made me tell him the whole story about the men and your sword and you. When I finished he said I was a honour to the name of Valmont and he was very proud of me"

"I'm sorry you were beaten." (Darken was genuinely sorry)

"Although he didn't show it, I think he was quite angry with my governess. I heard he had her dismissed and made her walk all the way home in only the clothes she stood up in."

Darken said nothing, but he remembered the territory around the camp, there were only a few farms and apart from the city that was under siege, the nearest town was over sixty miles away. A woman alone with no food or protection would fare poorly in such circumstance, bandits and the occasional Gar roamed the countryside and he doubted she ever made it home. General Valmont's daughter had encountered two people that day, one he had treated with great kindness, the other with great cruelty.

"I can see magic."

"What do you mean?" Darken lay there, he tried to control his breathing, she was going to tell him her secret.

"I can see magic." Ellie rolled onto her side towards him and propped her head up with her hand. "I can see the colours it makes, I can also hear it and feel it."

Darken turned over towards her and mirrored her pose. "When you held the agiel, you were describing what you saw and felt?" (this was unbelievable).

"Agiel's are made with dark magic, so are journey books. I could hear the nasty little buzzing noise it made, even though it was hidden in your trunk."

"What about the coin? I thought that was a trick."

"The coin was made with neutral magic, neither good nor bad, it shone yellow like the sun. I could have picked it out of a thousand coins."

"And confessed people, how can you tell they are so afflicted?"

She looked at him for a moment then got up. "It's getting late, we had better go in."

She had almost told him everything, but in his eagerness, he had forgotten that she had never mentioned confessed people and she realised he was probing her for information. There was no point in trying to question her any further, so he helped fold the blanket and followed her back to his chambers. Darken could wait, he knew there was more, much more...


	13. Your Move

Darken was reading the daily reports. "No, no, no! Ellie, Ellie!

"What is it?" Ellie rushed into the room full of concern

"Get me Falcone! Don't just stand there gawping girl, get him now!"

Ellie ran out of the room. Darken scowled at the reports that lay on the table before him. Although they had been sent from the People's Palace every day, neither he not General Egremont had actually read any of them, they had been so busy planning his escape, that the reports seemed irrelevant. Now he was on his own with nothing much to do in the mornings he had decided to read them and they were wrong, horribly wrong. It was that idiot General Gadd, the devious little bastard that he was had no tactical sense what so ever. Captain Falcone arrived, it was the first time he had seen him since the 'incident', the man looked wary.

"You sent for me My Lord."

"Yes, I need you to send a message to one of my Generals."

The captain looked at Lord Rahl, but did not move. "A message?"

"Yes, a message, you can use your own wording, set it in code, send it by the medium of dance! I don't care, but it needs to be sent!"

Captain Falcone still didn't move and looked even more suspicious. Lord Rahl lost patience and thrust one of the reports into his hand. "Look at this!"

The captain read the report. "I don't see anything unusual about this."

"Maybe not, but when you see this and this!" Lord Rahl thrust two more papers into his hands.

Captain Falcone read them and became concerned. "This isn't right, these troops are in the wrong place, it will leave the other two regiments completely exposed. How did this happen?"

"Gadd!"

"The man's an idiot!"

"I need to see all the reports since I've been here and maps of the whole territory."

Within half an hour Captain Falcone had galvanised the whole resources of the castle. An old dining room that lay unused within the wing Lord Rahl currently resided in was prepared by the servants, curtains opened and dust sheets removed so that they could use the long dining table to lay out the large scale maps the clerics brought from the castle library, boxes of reports were brought into the room and laid out in chronological order. General Egremont was brought to the room and apprised of the situation, then for the rest of the day the three men poured over maps & reports.

Messages were sent constantly back & forth between Martello Castle and the People's Palace. It transpired that General Gadd had written that unless he heard to the contrary he planned to move his men to a certain location. This was a devious ploy by Gadd to withdraw to a safer location, he was hoping that while away from the People's Palace Lord Rahl would either not see the letter or failed to realise the implications and Gadd would be able to stop fighting and relax in relative comfort until he was ordered to move. The gamble had paid off, unfortunately in moving his troops he had ordered other soldiers to occupy the location in his stead, this had a huge knock on affect with various companies moving to different locations. Most captains & lieutenants had simply reported their move to Lord Rahl, some of the other Generals wrote questioning the validity of such moves and emphasising their vulnerability at the loss of support from other troops, all these reports had been unread and now there was chaos.

Soldiers could be forced to march at blistering paces, but the support for the men only travelled as fast as the horses pulling the supply wagons. It would take days to restructure the army and get everything back into some semblance of order. The three men worked through the day, planning discussing and at some points arguing about what should be done. Ellie brought in food and drink from time to time, but the men barely stopped and continued to read and work as they ate. It wasn't until late in the evening that an exhausted Lord Rahl returned to his chambers escorted by Captain Falcone.

"What is she doing here?" Ellie was sleeping in a chair by the fire with a blanket over her.

"Lady Ellissia has slept in here every night since you have been unwell My Lord."

"She doesn't have to do that any more, she can sleep in her own bedchamber from now on."

"That might be difficult My Lord, you currently occupy her bed chamber."

"But I thought…"

"…these were my chambers, I would not have presumed to take them over after the general's death. Lady Ellissia had lost so much, it seemed fitting that she had them."

Darken thought about the argument and the insinuations he had made, no wonder she had been so angry. "Well she can't stay here, find her somewhere else to sleep." He blustered.

"She can move back into her old bed chamber, it is situated in this wing, that way she can remain close by to tend you."

"Yes, do that, I'm going to bed." Darken marched through to his bedchamber before Falcone could reply or awake Ellie.

Alone, Darken thought to himself. Why did she make him feel so guilty, it was all her fault anyway, if she hadn't crippled him with her magic he wouldn't have been in this situation. He couldn't think about it any longer, he was too tired. Darken threw off his clothes and climbed into bed, it had been a long day and it would be another long day tomorrow.

The next few days as anticipated were long and tiring, Darken had no time for relaxing in the garden or playing games of chess. This incident had made him realise how easily everything could slip from his grasp if he didn't keep on top of everything. He also hadn't been sleeping well and had been having 'the nightmare' again, this time it had taken a different course with 'The Seeker/his brother' taking over his army and leaving Darken defenceless and alone as he ran across the countryside trying to escape his own generals. In reality, order was eventually restored to the army and Darken now insisted on meeting with Captain Falcone every morning in order to review the daily reports. One morning after the meeting has ended Captain Falcone made a request.

"I would like to release your guards and have them put under my command."

"Why should I allow that?"

"Because they are getting lazy, they have nothing to do all day and fights are breaking out over petty arguments. The men need something to do to occupy their time. I could release them now, but without your command, they could not be trusted."

Lord Rahl thought for a moment, it would be easier when he decided to retaliate if his men were already freed and armed. "Very well, I so order the men to be released into your command, any man that disobeys your orders will answer personally to me."

As Lord Rahl was escorted back to his chambers he decided that if he hadn't won that stupid game of chess within the next few days he would find another way of escape. He would request supper with Egremont that evening and tell him of his plans who could then in turn prepare Denna and his guards to be ready to act at a moments notice.

The next day he sat out in the garden playing chess with Ellie, his mind was only half on the game as he was formulating a new plan of escape when she quietly said.

"They look like dead people." She didn't look up and continued to study the chess board

"Who do?"

"People that are confessed, they walk and talk and eat just like everyone else, but they look dead, your move."

"Oh." Darken was surprised by her answer to a question he had asked days ago, he absentmindedly moved a chess piece. "Have you seen many confessed people?"

"A few, the first time I saw one I was a child, it terrified me, I ran screaming to my father.

"What did he do?"

"It took a while for him to work out what I was talking about, the man was another general who had been in the camp for about a week. To my father and everyone else, the man looked perfectly normal, he thought at first I was having a vision that the man was about to die, so he put the general under armed guard to protect him. The general misunderstood the action and revealed his true purpose, it was then father realised the man was confessed."

"Is that how my father found out about your abilities?"

"It's checkmate, you've won the game Darken."

Darken looked down at the board, while they were talking, he had been moving the chess pieces without thinking and somehow he had won. He quickly realised he hadn't won, she had deliberately lost and was letting him go. He sat silently as she gathered up the pieces and put them away.

"When do you plan to leave?" she asked.

"Urm, tomorrow?"

"I'll tell the captain to make preparations."

"No, don't, I'll…I'll tell him myself… in the morning." Darken felt torn, he wanted his freedom, but he wanted to stay and find out more about her abilities.

That evening as he dined with Falcone and Egremont he said nothing about leaving, but continued to ponder on the best course of action. She had given her word that he could leave, but would she go willingly with him? He doubted it, he wanted her co-operation and if he arrested her she would be sure to resist, also at the castle he was still outnumbered, if he left and returned with reinforcements, or even sent for them she would be gone before they arrived. He could threaten to harm her friends, Falcone and that servant girl Mary, but would she fight back instead? He suspected he hadn't seen a tenth of her powers, Darken had never known anyone who could pick up an agiel for the first time and not buckle under its pain, her ability to not only touch it, but to also amplify it's energy was astounding, he could hardly imagine what she would do if her friends were threatened. On the other hand she had started to talk about her powers and had deliberately lost the game to set him free, why? Was she expecting leniency, did she think they were now friends? Darken continued to mull these thoughts around in his mind, but ultimately he kept coming back to the same thought….

How could he possibly give up such a prize?


	14. Reasons not to leave

"Darken, Darken, wake up."

Darken woke up, he was covered in sweat and shaking. It took him a few moments to realise he was safe in his bed, he had been having a nightmare, 'The Nightmare'.

"Darken what ever is the matter?" Ellie was beside him she had shaken him awake and was looking concerned.

"It's nothing, go back to bed."

"It can't be nothing, I heard you screaming from my bed chamber."

"I'm fine, just let me be." Even though the nightmare still surrounded his thoughts, he noted Ellie looked different, she was only wearing a thin nightdress and her lovely hair hung around her shoulders, she must have run straight to him when she heard his cries.

"You are not 'fine', tell me, what was it about?"

Darken looked at her concerned face, if he told her about the nightmare, he would have to tell her why and he couldn't tell her that, he couldn't tell anyone that . "I'm all right, go back to bed."

Ellie didn't look happy about leaving him and got off the bed and sat on the chair next to his bed. "I'm not leaving until I know you are alright."

Darken didn't really want her to go, he didn't want to be alone, but he also didn't want to show weakness in front of her either. "Well if you insist on sitting there staring at me, you can make yourself useful and read to me." He tried to sound annoyed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep and the sound of her voice when she read always relaxed him.

Ellie picked up the book they had been reading, looked at it then put it down again. "I've got an idea." She took the lamp and went into the other room. The bed chamber fell into semi darkness with the glow from the next room as the only source of light. Ellie appeared to be moving around the room as if looking for something. A few moments later she returned holding another book.

"This is what we need." To Darken's surprise instead of sitting on the chair by the bed, she climbed onto his bed and sat on the covers next to him. She showed him the cover of the book, 'The Adventures of Barnabus the Baird'.

Darken raised his eyebrows in surprise, he hadn't read it, but had heard that the book was a set of bawdy tales about the various adventures and sexual conquests of a young man as he roamed around the countryside. "Are you sure you want to read this?" he queried.

She flashed one of her stunning smiles at him. "You are asking someone who knows all five verses of 'The milkmaid and the soldier'?"

Darken was going to have to ask her one day how she knew that song, but for now they settled down and she began to read. It didn't take long to lift Darken's mood, although of a questionable nature, the story she read was well written and very humorous aided by the fact that as she read, Ellie put voices to all the characters, though as more characters were introduced she started to struggle to keep all the voices straight and collapsed in a fit of giggles when she started to get them wrong. In the end she insisted that Darken helped her read and made him take on the voices of the innkeeper and the night watchman. He shuffled closer to her so that he could read by the lamplight, as he did so she lifted his arm, leant against his chest and moved the book closer for him to read. He rested his arm gently on her shoulder, she was so close he could smell the delicate perfume of her skin. Darken had never been so intimate with a woman in a non sexual way before, yes, they were reading a bawdy tale and there were only a few sheets of cloth separating their bodies, but it felt like the innocence of a childhood friendship. He was broken from his musings by a sharp dig in his ribs. "Come on Darken, it's your turn to read." They continued to read and from time to time one of them would yawn until eventually they fell asleep together.

It was dark and Darken couldn't move, one arm was still around Ellie who was sleeping beside him and the great weight on him he surmised was Hobbs again. He lifted his free arm and pointed it towards the lamp, a dim light began to emanate from it; he then managed to ease Hobbs off his body, slipped his arm from around Ellie and got out of bed. He put on his dressing gown, walked around to the other side of the bed where Ellie lay and picked up the book that lay abandoned by her side. Darken leaned over her body and stroked her face, she looked so beautiful in the lamplight, at his touch she stirred slightly and he moved his hand away for fear of waking her. He sat and watched her for a while, he still didn't know what to make of her, she constantly surprised him, he did however realise that the way to her secrets would not be by force and she had (eventually) answered every question he asked. He pulled the other half of the bedspread over her to keep her warm, then picked up the lamp and took the book with him into the next room.

Darken looked over the bookcases trying to find where the book he held belonged. It surprised him the numerous types of books here, some fiction, mostly non-fiction, on subjects varying from sewing to history to horse training. Falcone had admitted that Ellie was descended from a great wizard family, perhaps there would be something amongst these books about her family history. As he searched his eyes hit upon a section of military books and in particular a book called 'The Intricacies of Battle' by General Stromm, it was a book written over two hundred years ago, he had read it while in the army and it was considered by many to be the foremost authority on battle tactics. Darken took the book from the shelf. Along with the account of Hawks Ridge, it was one of the writings he had read over and over as a youth, he opened it to the first page and under the title there was something written by hand. Darken sat at the desk and turned up the wick on the lamp until it brightened enough for him to read comfortably. Staring at the words he gave a short out take of breath, someone had written beneath the title in long elegant writing the words:

'This man is an arse!'

Darken was surprised, who would dare to question the author of such a revered book? A realisation came to Darken and his heart skipped a beat, this book must have been General Valmont's personal copy and he was reading the words of the great man himself. He started to flick through the book, there was more writing on almost every page, some in the margins, or on small pieces of paper inserted between the pages, various lines, sometimes whole paragraphs were crossed out. Darken took a deep breath to calm himself, turned back to the first page and started to read.

He read for about an hour until he realised he was shivering with cold, without thinking he muttered an incantation and the fireplace burst into flame and began to warm the room, Darken continued to read throughout the night and as dawn approached, had almost completed the book, it was now light enough to read without a lamp so he blew out the flame. He paused and looked at the lamp, then pointed a finger towards it, the lamp lit instantly. He looked at the fireplace, the fire was burning as brightly as it did several hours ago when he first lit it, he waved a hand and the fire went out. Darken stared at his hands and then the fireplace, he smiled, at long last his powers had returned.

Darken blew out the light and closed the book, he rose from his seat, walked into the bedchamber and stood over the sleeping form of Ellie, she looked so peaceful, yet so vulnerable. He lent over her and pulled back the cover, then gently picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her bedchamber. It would be unbecoming for her to be found in his bed and he was sure she would be embarrassed to know she had fallen asleep in his arms. When she was settled, he closed her door and returned to his own bed to get a few hours of sleep before the castle awoke.

The next morning when Ellie served him breakfast, she was suitably attired in her usual servant's dress, her hair once again neatly hidden under a headscarf. She made no mention of his nightmare or him carrying her back to her room.

"Ellie, I saw one of Gen.. your father's books, he had written lots of notes in it."

"Oh father was always doing that, you should see his other writings, he always had opinions on how an army should be run."

"His other writings!" Darken almost spat his breakfast out. "There are more?"

"Captain Falcone has a few, he's got them stored somewhere."

That morning after his meeting, he broached the subject with Captain Falcone.

"Ellie, Lady Ellissia, tells me that you have some of General Valmont writings, I would like to see them."

"Of course My Lord, I have them here." Falcone opened a drawer in the desk, Darken expected him to pull out a few papers, but instead he pulled out a key. The captain then went over to a door in the office and unlocked it, behind the door was a small storage cupboard, numerous boxes lay about on the floor and shelves.

Darken could hardly contain his excitement. "Which box is it?"

"All of them."

"All of them? Why are these documents not catalogued and stored in the library?

Falcone picked up a box, carried it over to the desk, opened it and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "They're a bit disorganised, The General would often write things down as he thought of them, I'm not sure if they can be catalogued in this state."

Darken took the precious bundle of papers from his hand. "Leave me, I wish to examine these for a while."

"Of course My Lord, there is a guard in the corridor if you require anything."

Captain Falcone left the office and Darken stared at the contents, these writings were General Valmont's personal thoughts. As Lord Rahl he had land and riches beyond reckoning and yet before him laid the greatest treasure of his life. He read one of the pieces of paper. 'Upon reflection the Quarterbeck movement would need more support from the cavalry'. What was the 'Quarterbeck' movement? It was a military term he had never heard of before. He picked up another paper, it was a diagram for troop positions around Tyberne valley. His father had fought a difficult battle there, with the loss of many lives, yet this diagram showed a much simpler way of gaining control of the area. Each document he read had random information on it, some things he recognised, most he didn't, before him was a giant puzzle which would take time and patience to solve, no wonder they had not been catalogued . Darken started to remove the papers from the box and carefully read each one, he would then put them into various piles according to the subject matter, the miscellaneous pile was the biggest. He continued to read until he was disturbed by a knock on the door.

"Yes, what is it?" Darken was annoyed, couldn't he have five minutes peace?

A servant entered the room with a tray. "Begging your pardon My Lord, but Captain Falcone thought that as you missed lunch, you may want something to eat."

"Missed lunch, what do you mean? I've only been in here an hour or so."

"It is late afternoon My Lord, you have been in here all day."

Darken looked out of the window, he had been so absorbed with the writings, he hadn't noticed the passage of time. He turned to the servant. "Put that tray down and hold these." He put two bundles of papers in the servant's hands. "And don't mix them up." Darken looked out into the corridor and called in the guard "Take that box and follow me." He then picked up another pile of papers and walked back to his chambers followed by the other two men. When he got back to his chambers he put the precious papers on the desk and said to the two men. "Get the other boxes from that store room and bring them back here, get help if you need it." The two men rushed off.

Ellie, look what I've found, you only said a few papers, I didn't realise there would be so much information."

She looked at the papers and smiled. "Father was always making notes, he had planned to write a book, but never got around to it."

Darken noticed his travelling trunk was open in the room and Ellie was holding one of his robes. "What are you doing?"

"Packing, I thought you were leaving today."

"I can't leave now, it's mid afternoon, unpack it all, I'll go tomorrow."

But Darken didn't leave the next day or the day after, in fact every day he was there he found another excuse not to leave.


	15. Misunderstandings

…But Darken didn't leave the next day or the day after in fact every day he found another excuse not to leave.

And so the days past, Darken found it easier to rule from the castle than he imagined. He had contact with his generals through the journey book, he could issue orders as needed and failing that the palace was only a days ride away. Darken came to realise that he did not need the large retinue of people that surrounded him at the palace, for example, who in the world actually needed a pastry chef? He had two, Ellie had laughed when he told her that.

This morning he walked around the battlements looking down on the soldiers training, his own guards had now merged in with the other men in the castle, Egremont had hinted that most of them would be reluctant to leave and some had requested a permanent transfer to here. He saw Denna outside on the grass plain, practicing archery with Mary. Denna said it was because the longbow helped exercise her injured arm, but the two appeared inseparable and whenever he saw one, the other would be close by.

However there was one thing he missed and that was sex. At the People's Palace, he had whores, mistresses and the Mord'Sith to pleasure him. Here in the castle there was none of that, he could have requested female 'company' any time he desired, but he was aware of Ellie and did not want to upset her in any way. If he had another woman, or even left the castle, he feared he would break the bond that was forming between them. He desperately wanted to know more about her abilities, his instinct told him it was more than being able to see confessed people. She was slowly opening up to him, he had even briefly mentioned bringing his wizard Giller here to the castle and she hadn't objected, but Darken was aware of the fine line he trod, he knew that even trying to sneak off with Denna to an unused part of the castle to sate his desires would be known about. Although he had the freedom of the castle he knew people were watching, it wasn't obvious, but then neither were the spies that his father used to send to watch over him. Darken pondered over the problem and eventually came up with a plan…

Darken's chess game was improving and he was starting win more matches than he lost, though now he began to hold back slightly on his game and let Ellie still win the majority of matches.

The latest game had ended in another draw, as he watched Ellie reset the pieces he said.

"Let's make this game more interesting, how about a wager?"

She continued to set the pieces. "You have much land, gold and power, what could I wager that you would want?"

Darken took a breath. "Your virtue."

She stopped for a moment and then continued to set the pieces. "And what would I get if I won?"

Darken breathed again, she hadn't objected, yet. "I could buy you a pretty dress and some jewellery to go with it."

She half smiled and said in a mock country accent. "Why sir with a pretty dress on and some jewels, I could go into town and all the folk would bow and curtsy to me and they would know I were a real lady."

Darken looked down embarrassed. "I apologise, I didn't mean to offend you, what would you like to have?"

She thought for a moment. "I want you to teach me to fight with a sword. I'm quite good at archery, but Captain Falcone won't let anyone teach me, he says it's dangerous and unladylike."

"He's right, it is dangerous."

"But if I win, you will teach me?"

She looked hopeful and Darken smiled (he knew he had her). "Of course I will."

"Then I accept your wager, your move."

Darken lifted the first chess piece and began the game…..

Later that afternoon, Darken spoke in Ellie's ear in a quiet gentle voice.

"You're not holding it right, here, move your hand around the shaft." He guided her hand. "Now lean back like this." He gently put his arms around her and moved her shoulders.

"Most people think it's the speed and force of the movement that's essential. It is important, but you must maintain a good balance. If you are off balance the thrust will be wrong and your opponent will disarm you. Now, try the movement again."

Ellie swung the sword around with a sweeping flow. He hadn't won the wager, but in some ways he didn't mind. Teaching her to use a sword was very satisfying, she was a keen pupil and quick to learn. They were in the garden and had worked on basic movements for about an hour until he felt she was ready for an opponent. He started slowly with the standard set movements he had taught her and as she got more used to them he increased the speed slightly. He smiled as she looked so serious while concentrating on each move.

"Try to relax a little, you're still too tense." He called.

Then it happened, Ellie stumbled just as he swung his sword, off balance she fell towards him, Darken pulled back on his swing, but it was too late, the sword cut into her arm and she cried out as she fell.

"No!" Darken dropped his sword and rushed to her side.

The cut wasn't too deep, but blood was pouring from the wound, Darken was guilt ridden. "How could I have been so stupid, I should never have let you do this!"

Ellie was less perturbed "It's all right Darken, it's only a flesh wound, tear some strips of cloth from my petticoat while I hold the wound shut."

He did as he was told and helped bind her arm. "We must get you to a healer as soon as possible."

"Don't make such a fuss, I've had far worse injuries." She held up her other arm, there was a scar on the elbow. "I lost some skin there when I fell off a horse." She then pulled up her skirt to reveal her legs, a long red old scar ran along her inner thigh. "When I was a child, I fell out of a tree and landed on a spiked fence."

Darken stared at he pale thigh, she had no idea of the desires she stirred in him, he was awoken from thought when she touched his face.

"Don't anguish over my arm, it was an accident."

He looked at her then grabbed the hair on back of her head with one hand and kissed her hard on the lips, he pushed her back onto the ground and started to run his other hand over her body. He wanted her so badly, wanted to posses her body, wanted her to respond in the same way and yearn for his touch, but she hadn't reacted to his advances, she just lay there, her hands clenched tight, looking sad and confused at his behaviour. A few short weeks ago Darken wouldn't have cared and just taken what he wanted, but now he pulled back and sat up.

"I apologise, I'll take you to the healer."

He helped her up and led her inside, Ellie didn't say anything, but Darken's punishment came later when he didn't see her for the next two days. If he asked, no one would admit to seeing her, or if they had, he had just missed her by a few minutes. It was the longest two days of his life.

By the third day he was in a foul mood, nothing was right, he shouted at servants and barked orders at his men. Having thrown his supper across the room, the heavy tray narrowly missing the poor servant who had the misfortune to wait on him that evening, he stomped off to his chambers with a goblet in one hand and a jug of wine in the other, determined to drink himself into a stupor. He kicked open the door to his chambers, the room was lit only by a fire and there she was curled up in a chair by the fireside. Ellie had been sleeping, but the noise he made with his entrance had woken her. She gently stretched. "I didn't mean to fall asleep, I thought you might like to play a game of chess." She sat there in the firelight and Darken thought he had never seen anyone look so lovely, he put down the goblet & jug and sat in the chair opposite.

"How is your arm?"

"It's much better."

He didn't know what to say, he began cautiously.

"What were you doing in the tree before you fell? I didn't hear what you said I….I was distracted." The soft light from the fire disguised his blushes.

"Stealing apples, do you want to hear the whole story?"

"Yes please."


	16. An unexpected turn of events

After the 'misunderstanding' things returned to normal. Darken would spend the mornings on affairs of state, the afternoons he spent working on Valmont's papers or sitting in the garden with Ellie, she would read to him or they would play chess together, often they would just talk.

It was a delicate matter extracting information from her, if he asked too many questions, she would clam up. He had learned that she could not only see magic, but to her it emitted different colours or sounds depending on the type of magic and some times who created it. As a test he gathered a box of various items and asked her to go through them, she was fascinating to watch as she rummaged amongst the items

"Neutral magic, neutral magic, that one is made by a wizard, ugh! that ring is cursed, the remainder are normal items."

He alighted on the ring. "What kind of curse is on it, can you remove it?"

"I don't know, I can't tell it's purpose or control it."

"So how did you increase the power in the agiel?"

She then clammed up again, in his eagerness Darken had asked one question too many.

The next day he was going through Valmont's notes when he found a diary, upon examination, it appeard to be the day today dealings of his duties as a general. There were frequent comments about someone he called his beloved Charlotte and Darken deduced this was Valmont's wife, Ellie's mother. The diary appeared to be written after her death, but as he continued to read, he realised that it was at the time Darken was serving in the army, in fact it mentioned the siege he had been involved in. He found it fascinating to read an event of the time from Valmont's point of view, then he turned the page and read the following:

'_I saw the boy today, it was as my dear beloved Charlotte had foreseen. It is hard to believe that this is the same boy as described by his father as lazy, belligerent and untrustworthy. All reports from my sergeant and the soldier I have had watch over him, report back that he is a hard working soldier, dedicated to his work and endures may hardships without complaint. I wish I could have a greater influence upon him but, Panis has his damn spies everywhere. He says they are to watch over the boy, but they watch more than just the boy. I know he despises my popularity amongst the people and cannot understand that I have no ambition other than to serve D'Hara and yet he continues to set me to fruitless tasks and has his spies waiting and watching for an opportunity to see me fail. I had the boy brought to me under cover of darkness and have given him the opportunity, to help end this damn siege. Maybe his father will realise his worth when he completes the task successfully.'_

Darken stared at the page, the remainder were details of the preparation for the oncoming battle, he reread this short passage, he had no idea that Valmont had taken such an interest in him and the comment about his wife '_as my dear beloved Charlotte had foreseen'_, Darken began to wonder what abilities Ellie's mother possessed and what may have been passed on to her daughter. That afternoon, he tried a different tact.

"Ellie, do you remember your mother?"

"A little, I was six when she died. What about your own mother, what do you remember about her?"

"I don't remember her, she died when I was born."

"What did your father tell you about her?"

"He didn't tell me anything, he blamed me for her death."

"But why?"

"Mine was not a usual conception, father told me he had used magic to create life and with such magic there was a price to pay. What my father hadn't known was that the price would be my mother's life, he hated me for it, he said that every time he looked at me I reminded him of the fact that she was dead. He took her death hard, he had her portraits removed from the palace and no one was allowed to talk of her. I know nothing about her, not even what she looks like. The only parent I had was father…"

...

"Semphena Auditorius Alorento."

Darken was ten years old and was having a magic lesson with Master Thraine a wizard of the second order. The words of the incantation were difficult to pronounce, but Darken held his hands out in front of him and repeated the phrase.

"Semphena Aquatorious Alerent..Ow!"

The cane smacked against the palms of his hands, red wealds were already forming from the last two times he had been struck, tears welled up in his eyes and fell down his cheeks.

"What is this Darken, tears?"

Panis Rahl appeared at the doorway, he had just witnessed the scene. He walked over to Darken, knelt in front of him and wiped the tears from the boy's eyes. Panis spoke gently to his son.

"What have I always told you Darken?"

"Great leaders don't cry, father."

Panis stood and went over to the master, he took the cane from the man's hand.

"The boy can not learn his incantations My Lord." The man offered by way of explanation.

Panis swished the cane through the air a few times, then walked over to the cupboard and placed the cane on a shelf. He then removed a thin metal rod and went over to Darken.

"Repeat after me Darken, Semphena Auditorious Alorento."

"Semphena Auditorious Alerento"

"Wrong!"

The metal rod came down hard, as the bone in his hand cracked, Darken pressed his lips together to stop his cry from escaping and he blinked furiously to dissipate the fresh tears that were forming.

"Again, Semphena Auditorious Alorento."

"Semphena Auditorious Alorento."

Panis smiled . "Can not learn, or will not learn?" He handed the metal rod to the master.

"All the boy needed was the right incentive. I will not suffer the embarrassment of a son who is unable to learn a simple incantation, continue with the lesson Master Thraine, I will be back later today to check on his progress."

Although the bone had healed many years ago, it still occasionally ached and Darken would subconsciously massage the palm of his hand, he found himself doing it now.

"Darken?"

He looked up to see Ellie's concerned face. He stood up.

"I have to go, I forgot, I…I need to talk to Egremont about something."

He walked away before Ellie could say anything else. The discussion had not gone as he expected, instead of finding out more about Ellie, he had spoken of his own mother, something he never did with anyone. He felt bitter and angry, why did she have to die? Why did she leave him with, that man? It was a harsh, bitter childhood, living with a father who always knew better than anyone else and demanded perfection from a son he despised. Well this time his father was wrong about something, great leaders do cry.

He couldn't explain it, but somehow after their last conversation Ellie was different with him, she spoke and acted the same, but he would often see her looking at him when she thought he wasn't watching and would look away embarrassed if he looked back at her. Perhaps she thought him weak for getting upset about his mother, but Darken didn't ask, he just wanted to forget it had happened.

...

"Darken, Darken, wake up."

It was the middle of the night and someone was shaking him.

"What's…"

A hand clamped over his mouth and he recognised Ellie's voice as she whispered in his ear.

"Don't speak, we have to go now."

She threw back the covers and helped him into his dressing gown, the bedchamber was dark but as his eyes adjusted he could see she was wearing only a thin nightdress, he fumbled for a lamp, but she stopped him.

"No lights otherwise we shall be seen, follow me."

Ellie took his hand and led him out of his chambers into a dark corridor.

"What's happened?" He whispered

"I'll tell you in a minute, but we have to go, now turn to your right, it's twenty paces to the door."

She led him in total darkness, opened a door and said "There are thirty two steps down."

As they stepped down, he wondered what was so important that they were creeping barefoot around the castle at night. He realised they were taking the stairs that led to the garden and as she opened to door she said.

"I need you to see something, but you must remain quiet and don't speak."

Ellie led him through the garden, not along any path, but through the trees and shrubs, there was no moon, but thousands of stars lit the sky. They eventually crept up to the edge of a clearing and waited. For a while nothing happened as they stood there holding hands. Darken became aware that the stars were moving, he leant down to whisper in her ear and caught the faint smell of her perfume, she smelt so heavenly, he almost forgot to speak.

"What magic is this?" he eventually whispered

The stars appeared to descend into the clearing and began to swirl around in some elaborate dance. Darken had seen starlings flock in a similar manner, but this was even more spectacular as the cloud of stars ebbed and flowed they changed colour, blue, green, yellow, orange, red then back to blue.

"What are they Ellie?"

"They are night wisps, they are said to live somewhere in the Midlands, but for one night a year they come to this garden."

"I've heard of them but, never seen them before, they are beautiful."

"Some people pretend to befriend them and capture them in orbs to use a guides, but they die after a few days if separated from their own kind. They are remarkable creatures did you know that one pregnant female can give birth to thousands of offspring and instantly repopulate their species?"

Darken did not know that, but he was concentrating more on the fact that she was leading him into the clearing, he held back not wanting to frighten them away, but Ellie held onto his hand, then held her other hand out and quietly spoke to the night wisps.

"It's alright, he's my friend, he won't ever hurt you."

As they moved into the centre of the clearing, she whispered to him to stay close. Darken stood behind her as she wrapped his arms around herself. He held her close as the night wisps descended over them and swirled around.

"Can you hear them Darken?"

"I can't hear anything"

Ellie turned around in his arms, placed her hands on either side of his head and closed her eyes. He felt a warmth flow through her hands into her head. At first the sound was faint, but it grew stronger, Darken hear voices singing, glorious, joyful singing. The song flowed through his body, through his soul, he felt connected to the song, connected to her. Ellie opened her eyes, they were sparking.

"Now do you hear them?"

"Yes, I've never heard anything like it, it's so beautiful."

It was remarkable, she was remarkable. Darken bent down and kissed her, not the forced crude attempt he had made once before, but tender and filled with all the love he had in his heart for her. As they kissed the singing surrounded them and the night wisps lights grew brighter, until the couple were bathed in a silvery light so bright it could have been day. Eventually she stepped back from his embrace, slipped the nightdress from her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. She reached forward and undid the front of his dressing gown, he pulled the material back from his shoulders and let it fall and as she moved back into his embrace he slipped his hands around her waist. It must have been colder that he thought because as he held her he began to shiver. Ellie's hands ran gently up his strong arms and around his neck and they kissed again for a long time, so lost in her kisses, he almost forgot to breath. Darken was becoming deeply aroused and she couldn't have been unaware of his hardness pressing against her. She pulled away from him and he felt awkward that he was exhibiting such a base carnal desire for her, but she simply smiled and led him by the hand away from the clearing. Most of the night wisps stayed behind, but a few came with them and lighted their way as she led him to another clearing where he saw a blanket and cushions laid out on the ground. They laid down together and as the night wisps danced and sang in the garden, she gave herself to him completely...

.


	17. The morning after

Many apologies to people who have been asking me about the next chapter, I had the worst writers block on this chapter ever.

* * *

It was dawn and Darken couldn't sleep. He lay on his bed staring at the first rays of the sun as they peaked through the curtains. Ellie lay in his arms, the light made her hair look like spun gold. He lifted a part of her hair and twirled it around his fingers and noticed that each strand was a different shade of red and wondered why he had never noticed that before. As he continued to caress her hair she stirred slightly, tightened her grip around his body and fell back to sleep. He could still taste her in his mouth and as she lay in his arms he breathed in her scent and thought about the events of last night trying to commit them to memory. Every moan, every sigh, how his skin felt against hers, the way she arched against him as he touched her in the most intimate of ways, he wanted to remember it all.

They had made love twice in the garden and then lay together in each others arms long after the night wisps had gone, until it started to rain when they had run inside naked carrying clothes and bedding, giggling and shushing each other like teenagers as they climbed the stairs back to his bedchamber where they fell onto the bed and made love all over again.

He was surprised to discover that he was the first man she had been with, hearing her recite bawdy songs and tales, he had assumed she was more experienced in such matters. When he asked her, she had simply said that she was waiting for the right man. They didn't speak for a while and then she suddenly said,

" You will not find your Prince, he will find you. His hair will be as dark as the earth and his eyes as blue as the sky and when he cries for a dead mother that he never knew. You will know he is the right man."

"Is that a quote from a book?"

"My mother was reading me a fairy tale and when I asked her if I would meet a prince, that is what she replied."

"Your mother could see the future?" (he already knew the answer) It felt wrong to pry and use his closeness to her to extract more information, but he couldn't resist.

"Father said she would sometimes have visions."

"So her powers differed from yours."

"She said every generation had their own abilities and that my han was the strongest she had ever known."

He stopped himself from asking any more questions, there would be enough time later.

Now as Darken lay on the bed with her in his arms, he pondered over these events and how changed he felt by the experience. Last night was the first time he had slept with a woman that he actually loved. He had bedded many women, mostly whores or Mord'Sith, some women came willingly, others by coercion or force. He had used them to satisfy his base desires and had never thought of it as anything other than having sex and the woman used would simply depend on his mood at that time, but this was different, she was different. Ellie truly wanted him, not because he was Lord Rahl leader of D'Hara, a man of great wealth and power, but because she wanted Darken, the man. Suddenly he understood something that had evaded him all his life, after so much loneliness, he knew what it was to love and be loved.

Darken eventually drifted off to sleep and when he awoke a few hour later he was alone, she had gone, just like the rest. He lay there crushed with disappointment until he heard a noise in the next room. Throwing on a dressing gown he went through, Ellie was dressed in her servants clothes had brought his breakfast, she looked up and smiled at him, in turn he grabbed her playfully around the waist, pulled her towards him and kissed her.

"I'm not in the mood for breakfast, come back to bed."

She smiled "You have a meeting this morning and I have work to do."

"Forget about meetings and work." he pulled off her head scarf and kissed her again.

Eventually, she gently extracted herself from him. "You are Lord Rahl and you have duties to perform."

Darken sat down and sulkily ate his breakfast.

"What's the point of being a king if you can't do what you want?"

"It is because you are a king that you can't do what you want."

He knew she was right, most people didn't understand that, even so he sulked a little and made Ellie promise to finish her chores by lunchtime so that they could spend the afternoon together.

* * *

The morning dragged on and eager to meet with Ellie again, Darken rushed his meeting with Falcone. This meant he finished early and still had over an hour to wait until he could see her again, Having nothing else to do, Darken resorted to walking around the castle grounds, he still did not know his way fully around the maze of courtyards so set himself the task of learning some of the routes, however, as he walked his thoughts were constantly of Ellie. While trying to complete the impossible task of concentration on something other than Ellie, he heard voices, it was Mary and Denna,. He rounded the corner to find Denna standing over Mary who was holding an agiel.

"Keep holding the agiel." Commanded Denna.

"I, I can't, it hurts too much."

"You are to hold it until I say otherwise!"

"But the pain, how do you endure this?" Mary's face was pained and she was crying.

"Forget the pain listen only to my voice, you will hold fast until I tell you to stop."

"I can't, I can't."

"If you force me to take the agiel and strike you, it will be much worse for you."

Normally Darken wouldn't intervene with the Mord'Sith, as long as they followed his orders anything else they got up to, providing it didn't affect him, didn't concern him, but this did. Mary was Ellie's friend.

"What is going on here? Mary drop the agiel."

"But, Denna…"

Darken took the agiel from her hand.

"You need not fear Mary."

"My Lord I.."

"There is no need to thank me, now leave here and go back to your duties."

"Yes My Lord." Mary glanced over to Denna, then left the courtyard.

"Lord Rahl, you do not understand."

"No Denna, you do not understand, whatever vendetta you have against this girl is to cease while we are still here. From this moment on you will not have any further contact with Mary, you will not speak to her or communicate to her in any way, she is friends with Lady Ellissia with whom I have cultivated a," (he paused for a moment not knowing what to say) "a friendship and I do not want to hear of anything that may upset her. Do I make my self clear?"

"But My Lord."

Lord Rahl stuck the agiel hard into Denna's side. "I said, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes My Lord."

Lord Rahl held the agiel against her a little longer than necessary before throwing it to the ground. "Now, get out of my sight."

He did not want anything to upset Ellie, he hoped Mary would be grateful enough for his help and not say anything of what Denna had done to her. Feeling good about himself he decided to go to the gardens and wait for Ellie, however after he had been waiting for a while, he began to wonder if this had been such a good idea, it would be another hour before the time they had arranged to meet. As he waited in the garden he heard a noise, she must be early he thought, but he was wrong, an old man pulling a hand cart came into view. It was the gardener.

"You can't work here today, go away."

"Apologies My Lord, but the bench you ordered has arrived."

"So soon?" Darken has wanted to do something for Ellie. Normally he would give women he wanted to impress some trinket, but Ellie was different, whereas most women would squeal with delight at an expensive gift given by Lord Rahl, he suspected that Ellie would receive the trinket politely, but not be impressed. It would have to be something more personal, something to show he had made an effort. After some thought he had decided on a seat for the garden, as Ellie had expressed a desire for one. Darken could easily have had his stone masons carve something grand out of white marble, but instead he chose a seat that was from the gardens at the People's Palace. The seat was weathered with age and covered in various coloured lichens, when he was a child he had been told that the first ruler of D'Hara had sat on that very seat to made all his important decisions. It probably wasn't true, but it would be an interesting story to tell Ellie. So, he had given instructions for it to be carefully dismantled and brought here. It wasn't a large seat, just two squat pillars that supported a heavy rectangular slab, the pillars would have to be place into holes in the ground, then grooves in the slab would slot it into place. Once in place it would remain steadfast for many hundreds of years as it had previously in the People's Palace. The gardener had turned to leave.

"Where are you going, I want that seat installed immediately."

The gardener returned and started work. As the man began to dig Darken notice the tattoo of a red dragon on the man's forearm, another Red Dragon perhaps? He had never met any before coming to this castle, but he had met Falcone here and now possibly the gardener. Darken began to wonder how many guardians Valmont had put in place to guard his daughter and the secrets she kept. He casually asked if he had been in the army and as they talked, Darken found out that the man had not only served under General Valmont (yes he was a Red Dragon), but he had also been at many of the same places as Darken. They discussed many of the people Darken had known at the time and campaigns that had occurred and he found himself talking to the gardener as if he was an old friend rather than a servant, it was a curious, but pleasing feeling. Darken didn't have many friends. As they talked, he subconsciously took off his coat and began to help with the digging and moving the pillars into place. Before he knew it they had set the upright stones and together placed the heavy slab on top, it slotted perfectly into place. After the gardener left Darken studied the seat , he wanted everything to be perfect for her.

"Oh, it's perfect."

He turned to see Ellie, beaming with delight.

"You like it?"

"Of course I do." She saw the dirt on his hands and looked surprised.

"You built it yourself?"

"I helped a little." he replied modestly

"Thank you." she held his dirt covered hands and kissed him gently on the lips.

They sat together on the bench holding hands and looking at the garden. It was quite unlike the one at the People's Palace, the gardens there were formally set out with a small army of gardeners making sure everything was in order. Paths were swept clean, fallen leaves picked up, weeds removed, every flower looked perfect. At the People's Palace nature conformed to the will of Lord Rahl, whereas this place felt so free and natural, the grass was left to grow longer, with winding paths cut through from one area to another. Formal plants were intertwined with wild flowers, the flower bed in front of them did not have the usual straight formal rows of identical plants, but was crammed with a mess of flowers and shrubs of all kinds, it should not have worked, but it did, somehow the chaos of it all made sense.

As Darken sat there he put his arm around Ellie who automatically lent against him, neither of them spoke, they didn't need to. It was a perfect day the sun had dried up the last of the rainwater and everything smelt fresh and new. The birds were singing, bumblebees were industriously investigating every flower. Darken watched as Hobbs chased butterflies for a while, then curled up in some of the long grass and fell asleep.

Darken did not know it at the time, but sitting here would be one of his fondest memories of them together…...


	18. The Departure

The next three weeks seemed to fly by, Darken was blissfully happy Ellie was a wonderful companion. His mornings were spent on the affairs of state, most afternoons he would read through Valmont's writings, Darken was starting to make sense of them and was hopeful of being able to compile a book. Other times he would sit in the garden with Ellie reading or playing chess and the nights, oh the nights were bliss as they spent their most intimate moments together.

However as the days past, things began to change, he couldn't really explain it, he was in love with Ellie, but little things started to annoy him. He had never shared a bed with anyone on a permanent basis before, the women he had, only stayed for the few hours he required them. Ellie would fidget and jostle about until she got comfortable, she would hog all the blankets and how could someone so small take up so much space in his bed and why did she have to wrap her arms around him while she slept? Then in the middle of the night he would receive a sharp jab in his ribs

"Ow, what was that for?"

"You're snoring again."

"I do not snore."

They would then bicker for about five minutes before going back to sleep. Darken did not snore, none of the other women he had slept with had ever complained about him snoring.

He found that he began to actively look for things that she did to annoy him, she took charge of his meals, deciding what he should eat each day, she decided what clothes he would wear, she would often have long discussions with him about the rules of government and how he should be doing things. She had been doing this already, but now it annoyed him, it was if she was taking charge of his life and telling what he should be doing and on top of everything else, she still hadn't told Falcone about their relationship, every time he broached the subject, she said she was waiting for the right moment. The final straw came one afternoon when he was expecting to meet with General Egremont for a discussion when she stormed into the room.

"Why did you forbid Mary to see Denna?"

"I didn't, I told Denna not to see Mary."

"How is that any different? Mary is distraught."

"But I saved her."

"From what?"

"Denna was forcing her to hold an ageal.

"You are such an idiot at times, Mary wanted to hold the ageal."

"Why would anyone?…."

"Because they are lovers."

"Lovers? but I thought…"

"Well you thought wrong and I told Denna it was alright to be with Mary."

"You ordered one of my Mord'Sith?" Darken felt his anger rising.

"I didn't order her, she explained what you had said and I told her I would be happy for her to continue her relationship with Mary."

"But.." Darken wanted to argue back against that, but he had told Denna that he didn't want Ellie to be upset, so she had continued to obey his orders, but still that did not give Ellie the right to command, his Mord'Sith.

"You had no right to…."

"Darken lets not argue about this." Ellie interrupted, she kissed him and his senses were on fire, he could not resist her and as she led him to the bed chamber, he forgave her, he always forgave her and anyway things would change when they were back at the People's Palace.

Darken was beginning to miss the People's Palace, he had recently broached the subject of Ellie returning with him to the People's Palace. He was due to return for a meeting with representatives from King Gregor's court to sue for peace between their two countries. He hadn't wanted to and could easily overwhelm the country with his forces, but Ellie had nagged him about finding alternatives to war. So to please her (and shut her up on the subject) he had agreed, on the condition that she would accompany him as his Special advisor. He suspected Ellie would not want to be seen as his mistress. He had not told her, but marriage of course was out of the question. Although she had a title of sorts, the woman had no money or property and worked here at the castle as a servant and protocol dictated that Lord Rahl, leader of D'Hara could never marry a mere servant. So instead, he invented the title of "Special Advisor" Ellie's ability to see confessed people would be invaluable to his safety when he travelled, it also gave her a reason to leave the castle without having to explain their relationship to Falcone. As for his other mistresses (he currently had four ensconced at the People's Palace), they would have to be pensioned off, before his arrival. Lord Rahl made a mental note to get his housekeeper to inform the women that their services would no longer be required.

Darken now concentrated on the preparations for Ellie's arrival at the palace. He had already made arrangements for her to be fitted for new dresses so that she would be suitably attired and had arranged an etiquette coach, her wild impetuous ways here at the castle would have to be curbed when mixing with nobility, she could not be seen to show him up at state functions. However, he was somewhat disappointed that she did not greet his arrangements with as much enthusiasm as expected. This became evident when he spoke to her at breakfast one morning about her chambers at the People's Palace.

"You can have your pick of rooms at the People's Palace and can decorate them in any way you see fit. I have arrange for you to meet with someone at the castle with whom you can discuss fabrics and furnishings."

"There is no need to change things on my account. Whatever decorations you already have for our chambers will be fine with me."

"We wont be sharing my chambers."

"Why not?"

"You do not understand you will have your own chambers, any other arrangement would not be appropriate."

"But, I thought…" Ellie looked confused.

Darken held her hand. "Ellie, my dear, I would love nothing more than to share my chambers with you, but as leader of D'Hara, there is a certain protocol I am obliged to follow, you can still see me every day. After all, you yourself have talked to me many times about the responsibilities and duties of leadership." (he felt slightly smug at being able to use her own argument against her).

Ellie was silent for a while, eventually she asked. "Don't you want to be with me any more?

"Of course I do my dear."

"But, we wont be sharing a room."

"I have told you Ellissia, it will not be appropriate and that is an end to this discussion." He removed his hands from her, by the tone of his voice and the look he gave her she knew he would not speak further on the subject, so remained silent.

Over the next few days Darken was very busy, he noticed that Ellie had been quieter than usual, but thought it must be nerves. He knew from experience how scary it would be for her to leave her home and travel to a new place, but he had allowed her companion Mary to come with her, so she wouldn't be alone. It still irked him that she had ordered one of his Mord'Sith, but back at the People's Palace Denna would forget all that lovers nonsense with Mary and go back to her usual duties and things would finally return to normal.

On the morning of their departure, Darken noticed that Ellie was packing his things, but had not packed anything of her own. He knew all her clothes were to be replace, but was surprised that nothing else had been packed

"Where are your things?"

"I've been thinking and I have decided that I'm not going, I will wait for you to return."

"Ellie, I'm not returning. I have been away from the People's Palace for almost three months, I need to return home and I want you to be with me."

"But I won't be with you, I found out that my rooms are in another part of the palace and that as your 'Special Advisor' the correct protocol to visit you is to either await your summons or to make an appointment to see you."

"Well that's how things are done at court, now stop all this nonsense and pack your things."

"No, I've decided I'm not going."

"Ellie, don't be silly of course you are going, if you don't pack your things then I will get someone else to do it for you."

"I'm not going."

"I could force you."

"You could try." She scowled and had a look on her face that meant she had made up her mind and would not change it.

"Don't be so ridiculous, I'm giving you one last chance to change your mind."

"You can give me a hundred chances, I'm not going."

"Well, that's it then." Darken walked calmly over to the window, but inwardly he was fuming. How dare she disobey him, he could not return with her kicking and screaming in tow, it would look like he couldn't control his own women. Darken decided for the moment he would return to the People's Palace alone. As Ellie continued to pack, he stared out of the window deliberating on what to do, first he would have Falcone transferred to another posting and replace the man with one of his own men, then he would have her brought to him, by force if necessary. She had no offensive magical powers of her own, he had seen her bleed by a sword and as long as her captors did not use any magic against her she would be vulnerable and once at the Palace, she would do as she was told. She finished packing and rang for someone to collect his things. All this time Lord Rahl stood with his back to her, staring out of the window, not speaking. After the servant had taken his things he turned to leave.

Ellie touched his arm "Darken".

Lord Rahl shook her hand free. "Don't' touch me. You are to remember your place and to address me as Lord Rahl."

He could tell by her look that he couldn't have hurt her any more if he had physically slapped her across the face. Darken felt guilt ridden, he wanted to take her in his arms, kiss her and beg for her forgiveness. Lord Rahl however, knew that if he gave into this woman now, she would forever be telling him what to do. He turned away from her and walked out of the room.

Riding away from the castle, he refused to look back. He didn't want to see the lonely figure of a woman watching him from the battlements.

And so it was over, his great romance had ended, Lord Rahl left Castle Martello, determined never to return…...


	19. Lemon Pudding

Back at the People's Palace Lord Rahl returned to his usual routine. In the two months since his return, he womanised, gambled and drank and was thoroughly miserable.

He bedded every Mord'Sith and whore that took his fancy, he seduced palace servants and noblewomen alike, but none compared to Ellie. Some were more adapt at pleasing a man than she was, but they did not provide the emotional bond he had with her and all encounters in comparison were deeply unsatisfying.

When he gambled he won every time, the lucky coin Ellie gave him saw to that. He contemplated throwing it away, but could not bring himself to stop carrying it.

He drank to ease the pain in his soul, but all it did was make him maudlin and sad.

Initially it hadn't been like this, when he first returned to the Palace he was determined to bring her here and make her conform to his will and if she resisted, he would get Geller to examine her and experiment if necessary to find out the true extent of her powers, but he knew Falcone would resist any attempts to take her, so he decided to wait a few weeks before he did anything. Darken knew of the reputation he had with women and Falcone would think he had forgotten about her. A change in troops was due shortly when the trained soldiers would be transferred to other posts and new recruits would arrive, that would be the best time to remove her from the castle.

In the mean time he decided to review Valmont's papers, there were still a few boxes to sort through, but Darken felt he had broken the back of it and his plan for a new military book based on Valmont's writings was progressing well. That was until he found the secret compartment. He had emptied a box and was about to move it off his desk when he noticed the dimensions were wrong. He had always had a keen eye for detail and upon a more detailed examination found that the depth of the box inside did not fit the outside. He looked around for an opening, but found none; the wooden box had many carvings on it so he randomly pressed on carved flowers and raised shapes, still nothing. He contemplated using his knife (the one that she gave him) to cut a hole, but that would have meant he failed the challenge before him. Instead he closed his eyes and felt all around the box, as he did so he concentrated on the feel of the wood, his fingers carefully explored the carving feeling for something different. Eventually he found it, something felt cold, but wood was a warm material. When he opened his eyes he saw a small carved leaf on the box, it looked no different from the rest of it, he found a magnifying glass and realised it was painted metal. Darken tried pushing on the leaf, but nothing happened, he tried twisting, again nothing, finally he tried pulling the leaf and there was a small click. Inside the box the base had lifted slightly and underneath he found a dozen letters

The majority of the letters all said much the same, they were letters to General Valmont, all filled with general chit chat about families & neighbours and life at home but, all of them would mention that a fox was searching the area and the phrase 'We have been forced to move the chickens because of the disturbance.' It didn't make sense, why would Valmont care about a few chickens?

The next paper was a document entitled 'A true and full account of the abduction as dictated by messenger' it read as follows:

"My dear friend, two days ago I left my home to go into town to conduct some business. In my absence, my dear wife was left to tend to your daughter, which is in no way a hardship, for she is a pleasant child of a sunny nature and has brought much joy to our household. Whilst I was away, several men came to our home demanding entrance, they said that I owed unpaid taxes and they were there to collect payment in either gold or goods equivalent to the sum owed. Our steward forbade them entrance and sent for my wife to consult with her on the matter, at which point the men tried to force entrance through the front door, all the men servants in the household were brought to bear to prevent such an intrusion and they successfully repelled the men from the house. During this time most of the household was concerned with the events at the front door, except for one of the household maids who was hanging out washing when she heard your daughter crying for help, she observed two men had hold of the child and were carrying her by force from the back of the house. The maid tried to intervene, but was threatened with a knife and so instead ran for help. It was then determined that the men at the front door were a rouse to distract the household. Defence of the front door was abandoned in favour of protecting your daughter but, by the time my steward and his men had reached the garden they found your daughter laying on the ground sobbing. Of the two men who tried to abduct her one man was dead, the other, a wizard was quite insane. My wife has tried to console your daughter, who was quite distraught. We cannot elicit from her any of the facts of the matter and all she keeps doing is sobbing and referring to herself as a monster. The men at the front of the house ran off, but I am certain they were Rahl's men. I have disposed of the body, as for the wizard, we changed his clothing and deposited him anonymously at a place of healing, although it is doubtful the man will ever recover his sanity. We have moved your daughter to my country estate, it should be more secure but, how long before Rahl discovers her there, I do not know. We need to talk my friend, in person, we cannot hide her forever. This matter needs to be resolved."

The account ended at this point, Darken was stunned, for all their discussions, Ellie had never mentioned this incident to him. As for his father, he would never have openly kidnapped the daughter of such a famous general, but this devious attempt would not have been beyond him and suddenly the other letters mentioning a fox and chickens made sense. There were two more letters left to read, one looked quite ominous with a black border around the edges of the paper.

My dear friend,

It is with a heavy heart that I regret to inform you of the death of your daughter Ellissia. I have said on many an occasion how delighted we were to have her with us; she was always of a sunny disposition and was loved by the whole household. Having said that she was also an adventurous child and loved to explore around the house and gardens. On the day of her passing she was climbing an apple tree in the kitchen garden but, unfortunately fell and her leg was impaled upon a spiked fence, she was quickly discovered and brought into the house. However, despite all the efforts from the healer, she had lost too much blood and died peacefully in my wife's arms. Ellissia never regained consciousness after the accident and the healer assures me that she was not in any pain at the time of her passing. Both my wife and I are distraught at this occurrence and beg your forgiveness, we did everything we could to keep her safe but, ultimately failed.

I pray now that she is now reunited with her dear mother and they lay together in the arms of the Creator in peace.

It was signed by a Thomas Havering; Darken recognised the name, another Red Dragon, this was too much of a coincidence. Ellie was clearly not dead, he had seen the wound in her thigh, so the description of the accident was true, but why write such a letter? As he closed it up he saw the broken seal, taking his magnifying glass again he examined it and saw that a second seal had been place over the first. It was only now, years later, that the colours in the wax had faded to slightly different shades, but it would have been barely noticeable at the time. Valmont suspected his letters were being intercepted, the coded messages and verbal reports confirmed it and this letter had been written knowing that fact. Why did his father begin to take an interest in Ellie? Then Darken remembered her story about the first time she saw a confessed person, undoubtedly someone would have reported that incident to Panis Rahl, his father always had spies about watching and listening.

The last letter was from his father Panis Rahl, this letter was different not only because it was in his own hand (father always had a clerk write his letters), but the wording of the letter was filled with warmth and kindness and not in keeping with his father's usual terse comments. In the letter he consoled Valmont on the death of his daughter, praised him for all the fine work he had done to aid the cause of D'Hara, then reluctantly, accepted Valmont's resignation. Valmont had written one word across the page. _BASTARD._

Darken felt a deep shame, his father had hunted Ellie until he thought her dead and now he sought to do the same thing. By planning to capture her and drag her back to the palace, with the intent of discovering the full extent of her powers, he was no better than his father. Darken felt disgust that he had become the very person he despised the most. It made sense why Ellie was so reluctant to leave the safety of her castle and he now bitterly regretted his decision to leave her, but was too ashamed to return and beg for her forgiveness and reasoned that she was better off without him. So instead he tried to find other distractions, to take his mind away from her. They didn't work.

* * *

It was afternoon as he sat at the table staring into space, his fingers gently caressing his lips while imagining her kisses, it was something he did so frequently these days that it was becoming a habit .

"Lord Rahl… Lord Rahl?"

"Hmmm?" He looked up at a dozen faces staring at him around the table, a committee for something or other had gathered to show him their proposals.

"What do you want us to do Lord Rahl?" The faces looked hopeful. Lord Rahl had no idea what they had been talking about.

General Egremont interjected "Lord Rahl will need time to consider your proposal, thank you gentlemen, this meeting is now over."

The men got up and left. This wasn't the first time this had happened and General Egremont was becoming very adept at covering for him when he fell into these melancholy moods.

"I can outline their proposal for you later My Lord, may we dine together this evening?"

"Hmm, oh yes, of course."

Lord Rahl waved him away and lapsed back into his day dream. Egremont stared at his master for a moment; he opened his mouth as if to say something, but changed his mind and left the room.

* * *

Later that evening Egremont arrived for supper carrying some papers.

Lord Rahl, who had already started drinking, saw the papers and said "We will review the proposal after we have eaten."

As the general sat he casually remarked "I thought we could also discuss the matter of a suitable wife. I have a list you may wish to review my Lord." He placed a second document on top of the papers for the proposal.

Lord Rahl scowled, "We'll discuss that later too."

The two men ate in silence; Egremont had learned that when his master was in this mood, no amount of conversation would revive him. The food was excellent as usual though Egremont noted that his lord drank more than he ate. After the main course, they were presented with pudding, Egremont loved his puddings and this one was lemon, his favourite, he took one mouthful and the memories came flooding back and without thinking, he gave a sigh.

What's wrong? Asked Lord Rahl

"Oh, err, nothing my lord." Egremont found it unnerving how his master could go though a whole meeting without hearing a single word, but another time pick up on the slightest thing out of the ordinary.

"Then why did you sigh?" Lord Rahl demanded to know.

"Well, actually, it's the lemon pudding…."

"If you don't like it, just say so." Snapped Lord Rahl "Take it away, take it all away."

The palace servants moved with lightening efficiency to remove the offending dish from the table

"It's not that…." said Egremont desperately trying to wrestle his bowl of lemon pudding back from a very determined servant. Since Lord Rahl's return he had become a very severe, unforgiving Lord and his servants had learned very quickly that it did not do to disobey his commands. A few seconds late with something or a dropped plate were no longer met with his previous look of irritation or harsh words, instead minor misdemeanours would result in a week in the dungeons or worse, punishment by the Mord'Sith.

Egremont was beginning to win with the bowl, but the servant feared Lord Rahl more than General Egremont and in desperation grabbed a spare fork from the table and stabbed the back of Egremont hand with it, the surprise made him release his grip and the servant whisked the bowl out of his hands and out of the room before he could react. Lord Rahl had not noticed, he was busy draining his goblet of wine which was instantly replenished as soon as it was put down on the table.

"What I meant to say," Said Egremont rubbing the back of his hand "was that it is a fine lemon pudding, just not as fine as the one they served at Martello Castle." Egremont pause, it was the first time he had mentioned the place since his return and he was unsure of his lord's reaction to that name.

"Well if it is not up to your exacting standards Egremont, I shall have the cook horse-whipped."

"No don't! I mean, the cook does an excellent job and she does make a fine lemon pudding, but," Egremont paused for a moment and then speaking quite deliberately said. "It wouldn't matter how many puddings she made, or what ingredients she used, it still wouldn't be the same as the one at Martello Castle."

There was a long deathly silence in the room as Lord Rahl sat there staring into his wine, he eventually looked at Egremont and scowled. "Oh very well, if you insist, we shall pay them a visit. I can't have my finest general moping about the place for lack of a lemon pudding."

"Thank you My Lord."

"You had better make all the arrangements, we will set off at dawn tomorrow. Oh and take those away with you, we haven't got time to discuss them now." Lord Rahl waved a dismissive hand at the papers on the table and returned to his wine.

"Very good My Lord."

Egremont picked up the papers, gave a short bow and left the room. When he returned to his office, he placed the proposal on his desk, but held onto his list of suitable wives for Lord Rahl. His hand still stung and he was disappointed about not having any pudding, but it was worth it as he wasn't sure that showing his lord this list would have worked. There was only one name on it, Lady Ellissia Valmont. Egremont smiled, put the list away in a drawer and went to make the arrangements for tomorrow….


End file.
